CAMPBELL COUNTY, VA - HISTORY - Campbell Chronicles and Family Sketches
			Family  Sketches - Diuguid
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                   CAMPBELL CHRONICLES and FAMILY SKETCHES

              Embracing the History of CAMPBELL COUNTY, VIRGINIA
                                  1782-1926
                                By R. H. EARLY
                              With Illustrations
                              J. P. BELL COMPANY
                           LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 1927


Diuguid

  William S. Diuguid, first of the name found in Campbell was a neighbor of
Archibald Bolling, and was appointed in 1811, by Bolling, one of his executors
together with Blair Bolling, one of Archibald's sons, and another neighbor,
William Ferbush. In 1817 Wm. Diuguid of Campbell county bought, of Jesse
Thornhill of Buckingham, 236 acres on Buck creek, a branch of Rock Island creek;
it appears that Diuguid's land laid partly in a portion of the county which was
given in 1845 to Appomattox. George Diuguid was a Revolutionary War Pensioner in
1835, age 72 years.

  Sampson Diuguid, brother of William, moved to Lynchburg and in 1817
established what is now known as the Diuguid Funeral Directing Establishment,
second oldest of the kind in the United States. He combined cabinet making with
his other occupation, supplying many persons of the community with fine durable
furniture. His familiar association with scenes of distress, as undertaker, did
not blunt his susceptibilities and, it is told, that at the grave it was often
with difficulty that he controlled his feelings. He died in 1856, aged 62 years,
and his remains were carried to Appomattox for interment at his former home.
Diuguid was succeeded in undertaking business by his son, George A. Diuguid, who
lived to the age of 72 years when his son, William D. Diuguid, became head of
the establishment.

  Perhaps, in its records, no line of business carries so full a history, as
this firm, of what transpired contemporaneously at Lynchburg during its century
progress,-in its silent reflection of epidemics, wars, crises, depressions,
etc., as well as of the march of science in tempering the ills to which flesh is
heir. These records give accurate roll call of citizens in their passing,-of the
heavy toll in war victims,—of the gradual dismemberment of households.

  Embalming was practiced in primitive custom before the War Between the States,
and during that crucial period of 1861-65 the method of preservation of bodies
for transportation, as found necessary in the case of soldiers sent to their
homes,-was by packing the outer casing with charcoal. A later day provided
precautions in the use of chemical preservatives, and for this in 1894- Virginia
Legislature passed a law requiring the embalming of bodies and licensing of
embalmers. This law was sponsored by Virginia Funeral Directors' Association of
which Wm. D. Diuguid was president, and Virginia was the first state in the
Union to adopt the law.

  George A. Diuguid had anticipated the requirement of a doctor's certificate of
death, first enforced in 1873, by the use of a peculiar mark of his own
selection, to indicate on his books that the certificate had been secured.

  The present improved church truck, used for the conveyance of bodies in the
building, grew out of the idea suggested to Wm. D. Diuguid at seeing a picture
of the catafalque used for the remains of President Garfield after his
assassination. Diuguid conceived the idea of placing wheels on such a car and
using it in churches; his suggestion became universally adopted and is now
considered an essential accessory.

  There are four cemeteries in Lynchburg:—the Methodist, established in 18O6,
-(an older one on Court House Hill having been abandoned) used later as a
reservation for soldier interments; the Presbyterian, established in 1824; the
Spring Hill, established in 1855, with violent opposition, causing the first
funeral procession to go heavily armed against possible interruption; and Holy
Cross Catholic Cemetery, established in 1874. A Jewish cemetery was established
on the Amherst Heights: and one for use of colored residents has recently been
established near the city. In former years slaves were interred in old Methodist
cemetery and plot reservations in the portion divided off from that for
soldiers, are still held by their descendants.


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