A Research Report by Thad Tate
Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. (1956)
Funerals in colonial Virginia were to some extent social as
well as solemn occasions. The friends and relatives of a dead person had often
gathered at his plantation from considerable distances. Once they had made the
tedious journey, they might expect to stay several days. The necessity of feeding
them during this time meant that a certain amount of feasting became an
expected part of the funeral. Even in cases where people did not come from so
far off, at least one meal was in all probability provided for those who were
present.
Drinking was also quite common at seventeenth century
funerals and may have continued with some frequency into the eighteenth.
However, there was an obvious reaction just prior to 1700 against the huge
amounts of liquor being consumed at funerals. Some people even began to specify
in their wills that nothing to drink should be provided, and so the practice
may have moderated somewhat. There are, however, other evidences, such as the
three gallons of wine and nineteen gallons of other spirits provided at the
burial of one John McClanahan in 1774, that drinking was still prevalent at
Virginia funerals.
The funeral service for a member of the planter class or for
some other person of wealth and position customarily was quite elaborate. The
attendance vas usually large. Near relatives and a good many more distant ones;
friends and fellow planters; humbler neighbors from near-by small farms; and
the servants and slaves of the plantation were all likely to be present. Those
closest to the dead wore some indication of mourning, either full mourning
clothes or a black ribbon or armband. They might also have been left mourning
rings and mourning gloves by the will of the dead person.
Funerals usually took place at home, and there was
considerable resistance to the idea of holding them in church. Likewise the
church graveyards were largely for the burial of transients or persons who
lived very close to the church. A family burying ground in the garden or at
some other convenient location on the plantation was much more popular. Hugh Jones'
Present State of Virginia (1724) describes these preferences very succinctly:
The Parishes being of great Extent (some sixty Miles long
and upwards) many dead Corpses cannot be conveyed to the Church to be buried:
So that it is customary to bury in Gardens or Orchards, where whole Families
lye interred together, in a Spot generally handsomely enclosed, planted with
Evergreens, and the Graves kept decently: Hence likewise arises the Occasion of
preaching Funeral Sermons In Houses, where at Funerals are assembled a great
Congregation of Neighbours and Friends; and if you insist upon having the
Sermon and Ceremony at Church, they'll say they will be without it, unless
performed after their usual Custom.
As Jones' description indicates there was a funeral sermon
delivered by the rector of the parish, not too different from modern funeral
sermons except for its greater length. The clergyman would also read the
Anglican Order for the Burial of the Dead as it appears in the English Prayer
Book of 1662, this being the prayer book in use in the colonies from that date
until the end of the Revolution. The vestments worn by the clergyman would
depend upon whether he wore his ordinary habit or dressed as he would have for
a service in the church. If in street attire he would have worn a long cassock,
cincture (sash), gown or black or grey coat, tippet (long black scarf), a soft
black square cap or a black cocked hat, a large wig, and bands (a soft white
linen neckcloth with two pendant tabs. Vested for church he would have
exchanged the gown or coat for a linen surplice, probably at this time one
which buttoned up the front and was full and long. He would have removed the
tippet and then probably have put it back on over the surplice together with a
hood. His hat, of course, would be removed.
The one or two contemporary illustrations which are
available here strongly suggest that in the case of a funeral a clergyman would
have appeared in ordinary habit rather than wearing a surplice. The cassock
would, however, certainly stamp him distinctly as a cleric. As illustrations of
eighteenth century clerical dress we have in our files color slides of a former
member of the staff correctly vested and standing in the pulpit of Bruton
Parish. There are also several contemporary illustrations, mostly English but
certainly applicable, in our Graphic Arts File. A list of these has been
compiled and will be held for use, if needed.
It is probable that the parish clerk might have been present
at any funeral to assist the clergyman with responses, etc., since he is
specifically mentioned as one of the persons to be included in the funeral
procession in several wills. Like the clergyman he wore a cassock, bands, and
wig.
It is clear from the contemporary records that Virginians
made a sharp distinction between the funeral and the burial, much more so than
today when the two words are often interchangeable in popular usage. The
funeral referred to the gathering of mourners for the sermon and other suitable
memorials. The burial involved only the actual interment of the body. It was
moreover possible to separate these two parts of the service by intervals or as
much as several weeks, especially if the deceased had requested a more or less
private burial.
There is some indication of the firing of guns at Virginia
funerals. However, this seems largely to have been a seventeenth-century
custom. There was, for instance, a 1655 law in the colony against the wasting
or powder at entertainments, but weddings and funerals were both exempted from
its restrictions. There is much less evidence of this custom in the eighteenth
century; so it probably should not be included in any representation of a
funeral of the later colonial period.
Where the funeral and the burial were observed at the same
time or where the burial was not private, some sort of procession from the
house or church to the burying ground took place with a greater or lesser
degree of ceremony. The following, which describes the funeral of Col. John
Hutchings of Norfolk in 1768, is undoubtedly a rather elaborate procession:
He was yesterday carried to the place of interment by six
reputable tradesmen, his pall supported by six Aldermen, preceded by a party of
the militia with their muskets clubbed, muffled drums, and mourning banners,
and was followed by a numerous offspring, a great number of relations, and a
very great concourse of people of all ranks and degrees.
A much simpler procession would have been that of Mrs.
Elizabeth Stith, a wealthy widow of Isle of Wight County, whose will specified
that she should have "a decent burial, with only my relations and near
neighbors at it; and that the parson and clark with the four men that bear me
to the grave shall have hat bands and gloves;…"
The following account by a traveler in Virginia in the
1780's, Robert Banter, gives a rather full description of a funeral — and a
fairly elaborate one — which took place some weeks after the actual burial:
This morning I dressed myself in mourning to go to poor Mr.
Hopper's funeral with Mr. George McCall. It's the custom in this part or the country
to have the funeral service performed two or three weeks after the person is
buried — a very foolish one in my opinion, as it only serves to renew the grief
of the relations. People were invited all the way from James River to it [this
apparently occurred near Tappahannock]. Mr. Mathews, the parson who married
them about six weeks ago, read the service. As soon as it was over, the ladies
walked into one room and the gentlemen into another, where a table was spread
with funeral cake and wine sealed with black. After this followed a cold
dinner. Neither Mrs. Ritchie nor Mrs. Hopper appeared…
Many of the descriptions of funerals and burials which do
survive are those of extremely elaborate rites. Two of the best accounts, for
instance, are those of the funerals for Lord Botetourt, the next to last royal
governor, and for Peyton Randolph, the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, who
died attending the Continental Congress at Philadelphia. but was returned to
Williamsburg for burial. These were exceptional; they might well have been the
two most ceremonious funerals in the entire history of colonial Virginia. But,
as the evidence above might suggest, even the death of the average planter
often called for a funeral attended by a large gathering and marked by a high
degree of formal ceremony.
At the same time there was a counter-movement in the
direction of simpler funerals setting in during the twenty-five years or so
before the American Revolution. Many planters who possessed both the means and
the social position to warrant the fullest funeral observances were stipulating
by will that they should be interred quietly and without great formality. These
were men such as Thomas Lee of Westmoreland County who complained of the
"indecent mirth" at funerals and asked that his burial service
consist of only the church ceremony attended by those relatives and friends who
were near and that a funeral sermon be preached in his parish church on some
day other than that of the burial.
The specific instructions of such men, who as Charles Carter
of Cleve said of himself, "never delighted in funeral pomps," are a
valuable source of evidence for the type of simple funeral which they desired
but also for the more prevalent funeral customs which they abhorred. Quite commonly
they sought to introduce one or more of the following modifications in the
traditional ceremonies:
1.) Keeping the burial portion of the ceremony private or
nearly private. Thomas Lee's request on this score is mentioned above, and
Charles Carter asked that his buria1 take place at night and be kept as private
as possible. The usual request was, like that of Thomas Lee's, that attendance
at the actual burial be held to relatives and near neighbors.
2.) Elimination of the funeral sermon. Not only was the sermon
moved to another day from the interment; it was omitted altogether, much in
keeping with modern Anglican practice. There are numerous examples of this
(e.g., Philip Grymes of Middlesex County who requested "no funeral
sermon—prayers only").
3.) Restrictions in the use of mourning clothes. This was so
commonly asked that it seems safe to conclude that, even where the funeral
remained rather elaborate, there was a general trend in the direction of
simpler mourning observances. To some extent the non-importation agreements of
the pre-Revolutionary era promoted this, since black ribbon and clothes
probably had to be imported; but it was a movement that was well under way
before 1765.
Charles Carter's will was very detailed in his instructions
on mourning. He asked that only his children appear in mourning and that any
other relatives should wear "Common Clothes, the men with a black Crape on
their left arm and the women with a black knot on their left side…" He
added, "I do positively forbid the putting of any of my servants in
mourning, having always determined within myself as much as my power lay, by
setting a proper example, to put a stop to the ridiculous custom of involving
familys by pompous funerals and mournings… "
There are other examples, too. Philip Grymes wanted only his
wife in mourning and only if she so chose. Mrs. Stith in her instructions for a
very simple procession also mentioned that the pallbearers should have only
black hatbands and gloves. And Philip Rootes of King and Queen County wanted
none of his family to go into mourning.
4.) The use of common men as pallbearers. This sometimes
occurred even at important funerals and may have been in reality a
long-standing practice; for Sir John Randolph who was entombed in the Chapel of
the Wren Building in 1737 had specified that his body should be carried by six
poor house-keepers of Bruton Parish. One of the most interesting requests is
that of Philip Rootes who wanted four of his Negro slaves as pallbearers.
Any attempt to describe a funeral of a Virginia plantation
owner of the 1760's or 1770's must then really take into account two diverse
characteristics, first of all, the traditionally elaborate ceremony attended by
a large number of mourners, but, secondly, the increasing note of simplicity in
the burial customs of the age. Depending upon which of these features received
the greater emphasis a funeral scene laid in this time and place could show
considerable variation in the size of the gathering and in the degree of
formality observed and still retain its claim to authenticity.
The following outline, which follows a middle course between
the divergent trends in funerals, suggests one possible example of a
representative funeral of the period:
Attendance. Even if the funeral were represented as a fairly
simple one, there should probably be a large number of people present — and a
very varied cross-section of the rural population of Virginia. Besides the
members of the family, there might be a number of men, obviously wealthy
planters and of the same social class as the deceased, with their wives. As
many, or perhaps even more, plainer people, representing the neighboring small
farmers, and the slaves of the plantation should also be present. Then the
clergyman and his clerk would complete the mourners.
Pallbearers. Even some of the really large funerals, such as
that of Peyton Randolph mention only six pallbearers. Apparently four or six
were the usual number in most cases. As some of the above examples have shown,
these men could have ranged all the way from fellow planters to Negro slaves of
the deceased.
Mourning dress. This is one of the details on which the
greatest amount of variation is possible. The best description which we found
is that of the very simple mourning requested by Charles Carter with all but
the closest relatives in ordinary clothes, the men wearing black crape on their
left arm and the women with a black knot on their left side. Mourning gloves
for the pallbearers might also be depicted. Fuller discussion of mourning dress
will require consultation with Mrs. Walsh, who is in charge of our Costuming
Department.
Place of Burial. There is no problem here at all, as any
attractive and well-landscaped plot either in the garden or elsewhere on the
plantation served as a final resting place for the family.
Details of the funeral and burial. There could or could not
be a sermon by the clergyman, but almost certainly he would read all, or
portions of, the burial service from the English Prayer Book of 1662. His dress
and that of the parish clerk, who also would probably be present, would have
been as indicated above. If both the funeral and burial were being held, then
there would have been a procession to the grave, joined by all the people
present.
The funeral as a social gathering. If any sizeable number of
people were present, then the fact that the sadness of the occasion was partly
alleviated by its being in part a social gathering should not be overlooked.
There would perhaps be a spread of food after the burial and a good deal of
conversation among the people present.
Curtains would be drawn and clocks would be stopped at the
time of death. Mirrors were covered with crape or veiling to prevent
the deceased’s spirit from getting trapped in the looking glass. A
wreath of laurel, yew or boxwood tied with crape or black ribbons was hung on the front door to alert passersby that a death had
occurred. The body was watched over every minute until burial, hence the custom
of “waking”. The wake also served as a safeguard from burying someone who
was not dead, but in a coma. Most wakes also lasted 3-4 days to allow
relatives to arrive from far away. The use of flowers and candles helped to
mask unpleasant odors in the room before embalming became common. In 19th
century Europe and America the dead were carried out of the house feet first,
in order to prevent the spirit from looking back into the house and beckoning
another member of the family to follow him. Family photographs were also
sometimes turned face-down to prevent any of the close relatives and friends of
the deceased from being possessed by the spirit of the dead.
Georgians, just like Victorians, wore black when in
mourning. Black was worn to denote privation of life,” as black was
considered the “privation of light.” The Irish author and satirist Jonathan
Swift noted that despite wearing black, Georgian Era mourning was sometimes
neither strict nor somber. He demonstrated this when he wrote that “he always
observed the merriest faces in mourning coaches.” One gentleman added to
Swift’s comment that “black clothes are but seldom accompanied with sorrowful
countenances.” The gentleman also maintained that at least two women he knew,
who had not recently lost a relative, became “very “the melancholy” as mourning clothes were of “great advantage to their complexions.”
