Your hosts are Fred Smoot, Mari Byers, and tom kunesh     


At the graveside of Claude Smoot, Warren County, Tennessee, 1936.
Photograph provided by Angela Mayfield

     “...THIN dark trees through yon iron palings where dead keep their own small metropolis. Curious marble architecture, stele and obelisk and cross and rainworn stones where names grow dim with years. Earth packed samples of the casketmaker's trade, the dusty bones and rotted silk, the deathwear stained with carrion...”
       -- From Suttree by Cormac McCarthy

     WHEN a genealogist advances beyond the mere collection of dates, questions arise like: how did our ancestors live, and of course, how did they die? The purpose of this project is look at our southern ancestors of the nineteenth century, understand how they dealt with death, and to help us realize that all through their lives, death was with them.

     



Table of Contents In Sickness and in Death        A Short Glossary of Death        Old Time Medical Terms        Drugs, Herbs, and Snake Oils        Phrenology        Influenza, the 1918 Pandemic        King Cholera        Tuberculosis        Typhoid        Yellow Fever        Death by Childbirth        Farm Boys and the Civil war        Infant Mortality        Major Epidemics in the United States Burial Methods; Tombs, Graves, &c.        Monument Typology and Grave Markers               (Under Construction)        Monument Locations, a Survey        Early Burial Method, Knox County Tennessee        Gravehouses        Southern Alabama Gravehouses (120k)        Concrete Gravehouses        Eastern Kentucky Gravehouses        Presidential Gravehouse?        Coffin Shaped Monuments        Megaliths        Slot & Tab Tombs        Triangular Monuments             Lavender Family Cemetery, Morgan County Tennessee (150k)             Mt. Gilead Cemetery, White County Tennessee (150k) Gravestones, Headstones, Footstones, Wood Grave Markers, &c.        Christian Symbols        Jewish Symbols        Symbols of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, I.O.O.F.        Symbols of the Free & Accepted Masons, F.&A.M.        Symbols of the Woodmen of the World. (Fraternal Insurance)        Symbol of the Royal Highlanders (Fraternal Insurance)        Momento Mori, Symbols of Death        Porcelain Ceramic Grave Portraits        Cast Iron Grave Markers        Cast Iron Grave Covers            Covington County Alabama            Henry County Georgia        White Bronze (Zinc) Grave Markers        Fallen White Bronze Grave Marker        Fieldstone Grave Markers        Native Stone Grave Marker of Wm. Lacy        Iron Grave Fences        Ceramic Grave Markers             Fired-glaze Pottery Grave Marker, Madison County Tennessee        Children’s Monuments               (Under Construction)        Column Grave Markers        Cross Grave Markers        Monolith Grave Markers        Pillar        Egyptian Revival Period Grave Markers, the Obelisk, Pyramid, &c.        Roundtop Grave Markers        Wood Grave Markers Coffins, Shrouds, &c.        Coffins and Caskets               (Under Construction)        Coffins with A-shaped Lids        Lead Coffins               (Under Construction)        Shrouds Church Cemeteries        Liberty Freewill Baptist Church Cemetery, Washington County Tennessee               (122k photo) Family Cemeteries        Close to Home                (Under Construction)        Finding Forgotten Graves               (Under Construction) The Culture of Death        Facing East        High on a Hilltop        The Folklore of Death        The Religion of Death        Postmortem Photography               (Under Construction)        Victorian Spirits in the Cemetery, by Linda K. Lewis               (On the USGenWeb Project website) Death & Funerary Methods of Our Southern First Americans        Mound Builders        Imported Disease        During Historic Times               (Under Construction) African-American Cemeteries and their Grave Markers        Grave Markers Worthy Links to Online Outside Sources        Slot-and-Tab Tombs (Mostly Georgia)        Smith County Tennessee Cemeteries             Be sure to scroll down to the list of cemeteries!        Even More Worthy Links and References Way Beyond the South        Resurrectionists in Scotland, Relics of the Body-Snatchers        Columbarium, San Francisco, California (photos)        Fairmont Cemetery, Spokane, Washington (photos)        Mount Tamalpais Mortuary Cemetery, San Rafael, California (photos)        Mount Olivet Cemetery, San Rafael, California (photos)        Santa Barbara Cemetery, Santa Barbara, California (photos)        San Francicso National Cemetery, San Francisco, California (photos) Our Mailing List        Subscribe Here