Adversity and Survival

Abstract

A century ago, families dealt with death in a different manner than today. To some extent, they had already begun to follow practices that would become common by the mid-twentieth century. Professionals, “undertakers,” had removed much of the process of preparing bodies for interment from the hands of relatives. Outside of major cities, however, undertaking was often more part-time job than profession, a sideline of transfer, storage, and haulage companies that had wagons and carts. Memorialization of the deceased was an elaborate and well-established ritual. Each detail of the funeral was expressive, down to the meaning of the type and color of flower chosen. On the Tappan door, there was a sprig of pink roses, the traditional symbol to tell passersby that a child had died. Inside the house, Zita lay in a small white coffin. At the gravesite would be a headstone that expressed, more than could words or public display, the feelings of the family. Especially in the case of young children, monuments could be redolent with emotion. Common motifs included angels and cherubs, far different than the skulls and reminders of mortality, or stoical Bible passages, that had once appeared on graves.¹