Changing Funeral Customs in Livingston Parish, Louisiana File submitted by Clark Forrest, Jr. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** CHANGING FUNERAL CUSTOMS IN LIVINGSTON PARISH, LOUISIANA A Term Paper Submitted to Dr. Alvin L. Bertrand, Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of Rural Research, Louisiana State University and Agriculture and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for RURAL SOCIOLOGY 201 IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY by Clark Forrest, Jr. December, 1972 TABLE OF CONTENTS Appendix Description A Copy of the section of West's Louisiana Statutes Annotated relating to Cemeteries R.S. 8:1-211. B Copy of Act No. 748 of the Louisiana Legislature of 1972 C Copy of the section of West's Louisiana Statutes Annotated relating to Embalming and Funeral Directors R.S. 37:831-848. D Louisiana State Board of Embalmers & Funeral Directors in 1971. E Copy of the section of West's Louisiana Statutes Annotated relating to Vital Statistics R.S. 40:301-316. F Certificate of Death and Burial Transit Permit Form. G Inventory of Selected Livingston Parish Family Cemeteries. H Recent Articles on Funeral Subjects. I Photographs CHANGING FUNERAL CUSTOMS IN LIVINGSTON PARISH, LOUISIANA Men have always viewed death as a mystifying occurr- ence; for this reason, all men have established practices to mark its coming in some way. The Egyptian pharaohs had their pyramids; the plains Indians of the American West had their burial platforms. In what way, to point out another example, have rural inhabitants of Livingston Parish, Louisiana, observed the death of a member of their society? (An excellent book on funeral customs is Funeral Customs the World Over by Dr. Robert W. Habenstein, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Missouri, and Dr. William M. Lamers, an author, educator, and historian of considerable renown.) The objectives of this paper are to describe the changes which have occurred in burial customs in rural Livingston Parish and to consider the causes of these changes. In describing these changes, a method of comparison will be used. We will examine past practices with regard to current practices. This method will again be used in considering the causes of the changes. However, other rural institutions will be dealt with at this point in the comparison, principally, the rural church. The following narration will show that, in the past, the entire funeral was arranged and conducted by the family. The family prepared the body for burial, they built the coffin, and they held the wake at home. They chose the burial site, at no cost, either in the family plot, which was usually located on the homestead, or in the community cemetery. They transported the deceased to the church and then to the cemetery in a wagon, one with axle springs when possible. Later, pickup trucks were used for this purpose. Funeral flowers were either at the local church or at the grave site. The grave was dug before the service and filled afterwards by members of the family. Today, customs have changed so drastically that the family's only duties are those of mourning and paying the bills. At present, the highly organized funerary profession takes care of all the preparations. Thus, the questions which arise are these: what brought this change about and how rapidly did it take place? Did this change occur, as Jessica Mitford contents in her book, The American Way of Death, because of a conspiracy among undertakers to make it impossible for a family to obtain an inexpensive funeral? Or did it occur because the same motivation that transferred the rural church congregation from its inexpensive, modest, woodframe church to the costly, ostentatious, brick building of today was at work creating a desire to send the loved one on his journey with some semblance of splendor? (See Appendix I.) Before considering the above questions in detail, let us first orient ourselves to Livingston Parish with regard to its location and history. Livingston Parish, with an area of 443,520 acres, is located in southeast Louisiana in the area known as the West Florida Parishes (see location map). The area is known as the West Florida Parishes because Spain held it until 1810. Livingston Parish was created in 1832 out of the southern portion of St. Helena Parish which had been estab- lished in 1810. In 1869, Tangipahoa Parish was established from portions of Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany and Washington Parishes. Consequently, census records cannot be fully utilized until 1870, except as trend indicators. (1) The parish is a microcosm of the state. That is, the south portion is dominated by a French-Spanish Catholic population while the northern portion is dominated by an Anglo-Saxon Protestant population. French and Spanish hunters had come up the Amite River and settled there about 1750. In 1778, the population on the Amite was augmented by some families from the Canary Islands. The Anglo-Saxons spilled over from the Mississippi Territory and into the northern area prior to 1810. Witness the number of Spanish land grants made to persons with English surnames. (2) Another ethnic group which settled in the parish was the Hungarians. Since they had come from rural areas in Hungary, they began buying cut-over timber land south of the town of Albany about 1896. Their numbers continued to increase as others migrated from the northern industrial centers until Livingston had the largest rural Hungarian popluation in the state. As follows, in 1900, 1910 and 1920 the Hungarian population in Livingston was 34, 182 and 144 respectively. The state Hungarian population for the above years was 148, 397 and 305. Livingston's percent of the total state Hungarian population for the given years was 23.0, 45.8 and 47.2. (3) There is no doubt that Livingston Parish is an area of change. The total population has increased from 2,315 in 1840 to 4,026 in 1870 to 36,511 in 1970. The percentage increase from 1960 to 1970 was 35.4 percent, which ranked Livingston in the top ten parishes in Louisiana with the largest percentage increase in population. (4) Probably the item that has played the most important part in the tran- sition of the parish from a rural area to an urbanizing area has been transportation. The first public railroad was not built in the parish until 1908. (5) This was the Baton Rouge, Hammond, and Eastern, which operated from Baton Rouge to Hammond. Prior to this time, the parish was dependent upon dirt roads and the numerous waterways. Since the waterways were subject to periodic flooding, the roads, therefore, were not dependable. The water courses all ran south; thus, they did not facilitate east-west move- ment. Hence, the parish was, for all intentional purposes, isolated for a great part of the year from Baton Rouge on the west and from Hammond on the east. A highway bridge was not built across the Amite River until the administration of Governor Huey P. Long and Oscar K. Allen. Now that we have briefly considered the location and history of the parish, we should have a better historical perspective with which to review the past funeral customs in the parish in some detail. Mr. William "Uncle Bill" Courtney and his wife, Telliua, of Holden, Louisiana, related the following description of early funerals. He was born on October 17, 1889, and she on October 20, 1896. The first undertaker that they could remember came to the Holden area in 1928. This was when Mr. J.M. (Jim) Holden (1855 - 1928) died. He is the person for whom the town of Holden is named. Mr. Holden's family had sent a message to Hammond, where the nearest undertaker was located, and requested that the undertaker come to Holden and prepare the body. Prior to this time, all deceased persons were prepared for burial by their families. Mr. Courtney recalled having to shave his father, Wade (Red Wade) Alexander Courtney, Jr., when he died about 1927. His grandfather, Wade (White Wade) Courtney (1827 - 1916), had placed heart cypres lumber in his loft to be used to make his coffin when he died. When John Hutchinson, a builder of coffins, started to make the coffin, he said that the cypress was the hardest that he had ever seen. Mr. Courtney further related how his great-grandfather, Elias Courtney, selected his burial place. He said that Elias and his son, White Wade, were riding their horses north of Holden when they came to an uprooted tree. The tree was on a ridge and its upturned roots revealed white sand. Elias turned to his son and told him that that was where he wanted to be buried. Elias was buried there; thus, he became the first person to be buried in what is now the Courtney Cemetery. The cemetery is located on what was Elias' property. It originally served as a community cemetery. (6) At this point, let us compare the above cemetery selection process with the contemporary process. A book which describes the complexity which now surrounds urban cemeteries is Modern Cemetery Management by G.J. Klupar. It consists of ver 400 pages and was published in 1962. This book deals with the application of modern business practices to the operation of cemeteries. That is, today's urban cemeteries are, of necessity, operated as business enterprises. Obviously, the tremendous increase in national population created the need for more cemeteries and, hence, prompted the writing of the book mentioned previously. However, as late as 1937 an informal method was still being used to select burial sites in Livingston Parish. Mrs. Eva Hodge of Holden related the following description of how her father, John Simpson Hutchinson (1869 - 1937), selected his grave site. She said that every September her father would cut the Yankee weeds in the pasture. While resting one day under a chinquapin tree, he stated that he wanted to be buried there. The site is on a ridge near the west bank to the Tickfaw River. The cemetery contains the graves of his wife, Luvina Kinchen (1871 - 1955), and four of his great-grandchildren who died as infants. (See Appendix I) Mrs. Hodge also recalled that since her father had no burial insurance, the family had to prepare his body for burial. They did not build the coffin but purchased it as well as other funeral items from the Pool Funeral Home located at Hammond. Shortly afterwards, Mrs. Hodge purchased a family burial insurance policy which also provided free ambulance service for 100 miles. (7) Although Mrs. Hodge's son Carl wants to be buried in their cemetery and in fact, has recorded the one acre of land on which the cemetery is located as a family cemetery in the parish Clerk of Court's office, the use of such cemeteries is declining. (See Appendix G.) You will note that certain cemeteries have been abandoned, for all intentional purposes, since no burials have been made for 90 years, in one instance. In addition, most of the isolated family cemeteries are in a state of neglect. This is apparent to anyone who visits them. In some, the graves have been desecrated, principally by seekers of hidden treasure. (See Appendix I) Now that we have considered cemeteries, let us return to our discussion of past funeral custom. The Courtneys related to me how the early coffins were built. They said the coffins were built outside in the yard at the home of the deceased. During winter, a bon fire for the builders' warmth would be built. The coffins were either made out of pine or cypress lumber. Most coffins were constructed in a wedge shape. That is, the coffin was wide at the shoulders and narrow at the feet. After the men completed the carpentry work on the coffin, the women would line the interior of it with white cloth. Sometimes old sheets were used for this purpose. Mrs. Courtney said she had helped to line numerous coffins. Cotton was placed in the bottom of the coffin under the white cloth to serve as cushioning. A cotton pillow was fashioned to elevate the head. Black cloth, usually calico, was used to drape the outside. If embroidery was available, it was placed on the outside cloth for ornamental purposes. If not, the ouside cloth was scalloped. Mr. Courtney said that Wade Spiller was an early coffin- maker. After he died, John Hutchinson took over as the area's coffin-maker. Neither charged for his services. When commercial lumber companies developed within the parish, they supported the local custom of building coffins at home. Mr. Courtney stated that Mr. Jim McCarroll, who established a sawmill at Holden about 1910, gave lumber for the coffin to any family in the community who lost a member. In addition, Mr. McCarroll never charged the family who lost its home by fire for the lumber which was going to be used to rebuild their home. (8) The Natalbany Lumber Company, which operated a large sawmill at Natalbany in Tangipahoa Parish, had the following policy regarding funerals. Mr. Ben E. Gill, a lifelong resident of Natalbany, related it to me. He said that Nat- albany was then a company town. That is, the company owned everything. They had their own electric dynamo, telephone exchange, company store, rent houses, etc. The company owned so many buildings that it had its own carpenters and cabinet builders. When one of the employees, or a member of the employee's family died, the men in the cabinet shop would stop what- ever they were doing and build a coffin. This held true for anyone in the community who could not afford a coffin. The company donated the lumber and the labor. Mr. Gill said the coffins were beautifully made. After the coffins had been made the family assumed the duties of burial. He said the women would pad the coffins. The women would also rub the body with denatured alcohol in order to preserve it. The bodies of people not from the area would be returned home by train. (9) To continue our examination of past funeral practices, let us now consider the practice known as the wake. The Courtneys pointed out that almost all wakes were held in the home. Since embalming was not practiced, the deceased was waked for 24 hours and then buried. The longest wakes that Mr. and Mrs. Courtney could recall were the wakes of Jake Efferson and a Mrs. Starkey. Jake Efferson choked to death when Mr. Courtney was about 11 years old. He recalled that the weather was very cold. Since Mr. Efferson retained such a natural appearance due to the preserving effects of the cold weather, his wife kept him about three days. When Mrs. Starkey died about 1896, the weather was so cold that her family had to keep her body for about a week; the ground froze and they could not dig a grave. (10) Mr. and Mrs. Courtney also stated that the jasmine was a popular home-grown funeral flower. All funeral flowers were either home-grown or wild. Furthermore, if no church was located nearby, the service was held either at the home or at the cemetery. When a woman called "Aunt Dump" died about 1921, her service was held at her home. They thought that the Bethlehem Baptish Church at Albany had the first church cemetery in the immediate area. The church was organized in 1875. (11) The Courtneys said all graves were dug six feet deep. Headstones were placed west and footstones east. Change came regarding the traditional six foot grave depth in the 1972 session to the Louisiana Legislature. (See Appendix B.) Act No. 724 now requires that only two feet of soil cover the casket. The east-west grave direction was not adopted by the Hungarian Presbyterians. Their cemetery, located south of Albany, contains graves that are in a north-south direction. However, some bodies are buried with their heads to the south while others are buried with their heads to the north. A brief examination of Hungarian funeral customs reveals the following information. They have and have had the only burial association in the parish, the Hungarian Burial Association. Whennever a member dies, a fee is collected from each surviving member of the association. Mr. Henry J. Beatty, Funeral Director of Thomas Funeral Homes at Hammond, supplied the preceding information as well as the following. The Hungarians had a charter with Thomas which provided that Thomas would render service to their deceased. It included only minimum services: the preparation of the body, the casket, and delivery to either the Catholic or Presby- terian Hall. The Hungarians conducted their own funerals and dug their own graves. The funeral home did not supply a tent, chairs, artificial grass, etc. The funeral home usually kept the remains from three to five days. This enabled relatives from the north to come to the service by train. Mr. Beatty recalled having to sign certificates for Hungarians, particularly those employed in Ohio, stating they they had attended a funeral. Most factories or companies allow their employees three days to attend funerals without being docked. (12) The Hungarians burn candles on the graves on All Saints' Day. Candles are lit at St. Margaret's, the Catholic cemetery, in the afternoon, while at the Presbyterian cemetery, the candles are lit at night. No candles are used in Protestant cemeteries, although flowere are. (13) In the above narration we have examined the changing funeral customs principally from a layman's point of view. Let us at this time examine the development of the local funeral homes, adopting the funeral profession's point of view. The Thomas Funeral Home at Hammond is an excellent example of the gradual development of a professional funeral establish- ment. The Thomas funeral Homes evolved from a family furniture store. The home's development parallels the changes which took place in the local funeral customs. Mr. Henry J. Beatty, the home's longtime director, gives its evolutionary history as follows. (An excellent book on American funeral directing is The History of American Funeral Directing by Doctors Habenstein and Lamers. It was published in 1955.) Mr. Leroy Thomas, the founder of Thomas Funeral Homes, Inc., started the business in 1879. At that time he owned and operated a furniture store in Hammond. In 1879, he began to sell commercially produced caskets. These were wooden caskets which were either painted or varnished. A choice among various interior linings was available to the family, depending upon the price of interior desired. After the interior was chosen it was installed by Mr. Thomas in the casket selected by the family. As time went on, the need for embalming the body arose in order to preserve it long enough for distant relatives to attend the funeral service. Mr. Thomas responded to this need by learning the art of embalming. However, his practice had never been kept within the bounds of his furniture store. It was decentralized. That is, he went to the home where the body was located and performed his services there. The only means of transportation at that time were the horse and the train. Funerals were attended in horse- drawn buggies and teh funeral coach was horse-drawn. If the distance was not too great and the roads passable, Mr. Thomas would go by horse. If he could not go by horse, Mr. Thomas would go by train. Mr. Beatty also recalled that sometimes the railroad maintenance crews transported the deceased with their motorcars. When a death occurred in the northern portion of Tangipahoa Parish, a casket was placed in the baggage car and the mortician rode with it. A wagon met the train at the depot to take the casket and the mortician to the home of the deceased. The mortician, once there, prepared the body for burial. Often he spent the night with the family. After the funeral the next day, he returned to Hammond by train. Mr. Beatty stated that during the 1930's the need for burial insurance became necessary because the people desired better caskets and more services. Even though the economy of the area at that time was very low, an entire family could be insured for a few cents per month. A family group policy costing about one dollar per month provided each family member with a funeral costing approximately $100. As time went on still more elaborate caskets and more services were desired, so additional insurance was sold to provide for these things. When questioned about specific changes in funeral customs, Mr. Beatty listed the following. In the late 1930's, the funeral home began to be utilized as the place for the wake. Today, less than one percent of all wakes are held in family homes. In regard to embalming, Mr. Beatty said that the last year in which an unembalmed person was buried was 1964. There was only one such instance in that year. In fact, Mr. Beatty said that embalming is so common that he no longer asks the family whether they want it performed. Burial vaults are used in sixty percent of the burials. Twenty years ago burial vaults were used in less than fifteen per- cent of the funerals performed. Thomas Funeral Home now digs most of the graves. How- ever, a few graves in Livingston Parish are dug by members of the family. Mr. Beatty attributes this change to the present working conditions of the members of the community. He said, "A man can hardly attend a funeral without being docked, much less taking time to help with the burial." Mr. Beatty wished during the interview to present the following defense to the accusation made by many concerning the high cost of dying. He said that the cost of funeral services today is only three-and-a-half times what it was in 1938, while automobiles cost twelve times what they did in that same year, doctors' services fifteen times, dentists' seventeen times, hospitals twenty-one times, and sporting goods fourteen times. Mr. Beatty stated that a funeral coach cost $2,800 in 1938 and it costs $15,000 today. A metal casket cost $300 in 1938 and it costs $930 today. Recently, inflation has been causing a six percent increase per year in the cost of living. However, Thomas has not increased the price of their services in two years, even though they have had to increase the salaries of their emploees, and one-half of their total expenditures is devoted to salaries. When questioned about possible future changes in the funeral customs in this area, Mr. Beatty stated that since two crematories are now operating in New Orleans, whereas none were operating there three years ago, that it is just a matter of time before they will appear in this area. Also, memorial societies, groups desiring only minimum serivces, may develop. At present, Thomas Funeral Homes are operated by Frank B. Thomas, great-grandson of the founder, Leroy Thomas. The founder's son, Frank, operated the business until he died about 1925. Frank's wife, grace, managed the business until their sons, Carroll and Kenneth, became old enough to assist. Grace died about 1955, Kenneth about 1959 and Carroll about 1970. Carroll's son, Frank B., is now managing the business. (14) The above narration has dealt with the development of professinal funeral homes in the area adjacent to eastern Livingston Parish. In continuing, we will briefly consider the development of the funeral profession in the Denham Springs area. Mr. Earl Zachary, a licensed embalmer and funeral director with Hollabaugh-Spindle Mortuary said that the first funeral home established in Baton Rouge was Rabenhorst. It was established in 1866. Hollabaugh-Spindle established the first funeral home in Livingston Parish. It was established at Denham Springs in 1958. (15) Mr. Alex Sibley, also a funeral director with Holla- baugh-Spindle and a lifelong Livingston Parish resident, gave the following information. In the early 1950's the use of the family home for the wake began to decline and the use of the funeral home increased. The reason for this is that funeral homes are designed for wakes. For instance, additional services can easily be rendered to the corpse should it become necessary. Mr. Sibley pointed out that drowning victims are particularly susceptible to gas form- ation. Furthermore, funeral homes are designed for large numbers of people. Small dwelling homes cannot accomodate large groups without damage. Church wakes have also declined because churches are primarily designed for worship. However, Mr. Sibley pointed out that it is appropriate to wake ministers in church. He said church wakes were popular in the Jackson, Louisiana area. Mr. Sibley stated that all-night vigils, while common in dwelling homes, have declined fifty percent in the funeral home. He said there are more all-night vigils in Livingston Parish than in the city of Baton Rouge. The all- night vigil has declined in frequency because it works great hardship on the family. Also, the acquaintances of the deceased, who formerly kept the vigil with the family, are now subject to the demands of their employers. Whereas in previous times the acquaintances were self-employed and could choose their own working hours, which facilitated their keeping all-night vigils, they are now bound by strict working hours. This fact explains why most graves are now being dug by paid labor rather than by the family. When questioned about possible future changes in funeral customs in this are, Mr. Sibley stated that fiber- glass caskets will begin to be used here just as they are up north. (16) It is apparent from the above narration that both the layman's and the professinoal funeral director's points of view are the same, namely, that funeral customs have changed in Livingston Parish. One of the two objectives that was given in the introduction is therefore fulfilled. That is, we have described the changes which have occurred in burial customs in rural Livingston Parish by comparing past practices with current practices. The second objective is to consider the causes of thes changes. A comparison will be made with the change that another rural institution, the church, has undergone. Let us review the reasons given by our informants as to the causes for these changes. According to Mr. and Mrs. William Courtney, burial insurance could have been the reason for the decline of the family practice of preparing the deceased. (17) Mr. Henry J. Beatty concurred with this, but said that burial insurance became necessary because the people desired better caskets and more services. (18) Mr. Alex Sibley stated, "People make the customs, not the funeral homes." (19) We have a unamious consensus: All people have contributed to changing the funeral customs, not just the funeral directors. In conclusion, I submit that the same desire that moved the rural, fundamental, Pentecostal Church congregation from its wood-frame building to its recently completed, forty- thousand dollar brick structure (See Appendix H, Murrary Newspapers (Hammond), Wednesday, November 29, 1972.) moved the rural Livingston Parish residents from their inexpensive family-dominated funeral services to the expensive, pro- fessional-dominated funeral services, namely, the desire for something better. NOTES 1. Livingston Parish Resources and Facilities, Louisiana Department of Public Works, about 1955, page 6. 2. Ibid., page 2. 3. U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1900, 1910, and 1920. 4. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1970 Census of Population: Louisiana, PC (VI) 20, page 20. 5. The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), Thursday, February 27, 1908, page 12. 6. Personal interview by Clark Forrest with Mr. & Mrs. William Courtney of Holden, Louisiana, on November 12, 1972. 7. Personal interview by Clark Forrest with Mrs. Eva Hodge (born 1893) of Holden, Louisiana, on November 19, 1972. 8. Mr. & Mrs. William Courtney, November 12, 1972. 9. Personal interview by Clark Forrest with Mr. Ben E. Gill (born 1910) of Natalbany, Louisiana, on November 25, 1972. 10. Personal interview by Clark Forrest with Mr. & Mrs. William Courtney of Holden, Louisiana, on December 3, 1972. 11. Annual of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, 1972, distributed by the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Alexandria, Louisiana. 12. Personal interview by Clark Forrest with Mr. Henry J. Beatty, Funeral Director of Thomas Funeral Homes, Hammond, Louisiana, on December 1, 1972. 13. Personal visit by Clark Forrest to local cemeteries on November 1, 1972. 14. Mr. Henry J. Beatty, December 1, 1972. 15. Telephone interview by Clark Forrest with Mr. Earl Zachary, Licensed Embalmer and Funeral Director, Hollabaugh- Spindle Mortuary, Denham Springs, Louisiana, on November 29, 1972. 16. Telephone interview by Clark Forrest with Mr. Alex Sibley, Funeral Director, Hollabaugh-Spindle Mortuary, Denham Springs, Louisiana, on December 1, 1972. 17. Mr. and Mrs. William Courtney, November 12, 1972. 18. Mr. Henry J. Beatty, December 1, 1972. 19. Mr. Alex Sibley, December 1, 1972. BIBLIOGRAPHY Drewes, Donald W. Cemetery Land Planning. Pittsburgh: Matthews Memorial Bronze, 1964. Habenstein, Robert W., and William M. Lamers. The History of American Funeral Directing. Milwaukee: Bulfin Printers, Inc., 1955. Habenstein, Robert W., and William M. Lamers. Funeral Customs the World Over. Milwaukee: 1960. Irion, Paul E. The Funeral and the Mourners: Pastoral Care of the Bereaved. New York: Abingdon Press, 1954. Irion, Paul E. The funeral: Vestige or Value? New York: Abingdon Press, 1966. Klupar, G.J. Modern Cemetery Management. Chicago: Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago, 1962. Puckle, Bertram S. Funeral Customs: Their Origin and Develop- ment. London: T. Werner Laurie Ltd., 1926. *****