OBIT: William BIEMENSDERFER, 1890, Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA

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DIED.

  BEAMSDERFER.  January 5, 1890, in this city, Wm. Beamsderfer, aged 56 
years.
  The relatives and friends of the family are respectfully invited to 
attend the funeral from his late residence, No. 639 East Chestnut 
street, on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 P.M.  Interment private.

The Lancaster Daily Examiner, Monday, January 6, 1890

WM. BIEMENSDERFER CREMATED.
The Man Who Built the Retort is Cremated in it on Wednesday.

  William Biemensderfer, an aged and respected citizen, was incinerated 
in the Lancaster Crematorium on Wednesday afternoon.  Mr. Biemensderfer 
died on Sunday at his home, No. 639 East Chestnut street, after a 
lingering illness of consumption.  Deceased was nearly sixty years of 
age.
  He was by trade a firebrick layer, and for many years he was employed 
at the Penn Iron Works, where he repaired the puddling furnaces.  When 
the Lancaster Crematorium was erected he built the first retort, and it 
was a credit to his skill.  He also superintended the building of the 
second retort.
  After the crematorium went into operation he was janitor, and he held 
that position for two years.  He was an earnest advocate of cremation 
as a means of disposing of the dead, and the retort in which his body 
was reduced to ashes on Wednesday was the one which he built with his 
own hands.
  Deceased, when he gave up his janitorial duties here, went to 
Philadelphia where he superintended the erection of an incinerating 
furnace there.  He was also called upon to superintend the great 
furnace on Long Island and also a crematorium in Detroit, Michigan.
  He was janitor of the Long Island Crematorium about a year and for 
eighteen months he held that position in Philadelphia.  During the last 
summer he came home on account of rapidly failing health.
  Deceased was a soldier in the late war.  He was a member of Lieut. E. 
W. Bushby's detachment of the Veteran Reserve Cops, of Pennsylvania, 
which was unassigned.  He was enrolled into the service on February 4, 
1862, and was discharged honorably on February 11, 1865.
  Deceased leaves a wife and a number of children.

The Lancaster Daily Examiner, Thursday, January 9, 1890