Guns and Gear

Doing the Dirty Work of Death!

Shoot-outs, quick-draw duels, and outlaws being filled with lead by the lawman of the day, are just a few of the everyday occurrences of death in the Old West. However, what is seldom discussed is what happens in the aftermath of all the shooting that occurred. Once the smoke settled and the smell of gunpowder faded, a body or bodies littered the ground. 

Old West Undertakers

Now was when the undertaker entered the picture. This profession was not for everyone, but it was a necessity. Unlike early Pioneers, who buried their dead at points along their long journeys where the actual death occurred, townsfolk had to go another route and employ the talents of the local undertaker to move their loved one’s body through the process up to its burial. 

The undertaker’s profession, to many in today’s day and age, is a mixture of misinformation and misrepresentation from both television, movies, and other media. Here, we’ll examine the life of the man dealing in death, and illustrate that to him, it was just another day at the office. 

Why the Undertaker was Needed

(Photo by CREATISTA (iStock))

As mentioned above, pioneers who traveled westward faced many hardships along their route. From diseases to hunger, to harsh weather and attacks form natives, death was common for those trying to make a better life for themselves and their family, in the west. Since they were on the move constantly, the dead body was typically buried where the death had occurred. They had little time to mourn and had to continue on the move. However, once the pioneers reached their destinations, along with many others, small settlements were established, and then larger towns came into existence. At that point, the bodies of the dead needed to be tended to, and thus the undertaker, as a profession, was born. 

The Usual Suspects

Logically enough, the first undertakers in the 1800’s were furniture makers and carpenters. These men were well-versed in all things created from wood. From cabinets to shelving, to furniture, like rocking chairs, dressers, couches, and even baby buggies. With their talents, it wasn’t difficult for them to construct a wooden coffin for the dead. These men were sought out from the townspeople, rather than they promoting themselves to the people as their first choice to tend to their dead.

Many carpenters or furniture makers continued their primary professions while they worked on the side to produce coffins. Though death has been illustrated greatly in media depicting the Old West, the fact was that their truly wasn’t enough work (meaning not constant death on a regular basis) for the carpenter to make coffins all day, every day. The Jack-of-all-trades was indeed a title fit for a carpenter/undertaker of the mid to late 1800’s. 

Old Wester Undertakers Responsibilities

The local carpenter or furniture maker took on the task of coffin construction, but it didn’t stop there. He also drove the hearse, which was almost always a converted horse-drawn cart (constructed by themselves) that offered elaborate decorations, wood-carved paneling with intricate detailing, along with fabric curtains that draped downward and covered every window on the wagon.

From the construction of the coffin, to the transporting of the body, the next logical step (at least in the eyes of people in the mid-nineteenth century) for the woodworker turned undertaker was to perform the funeral. This not only included the tasks mentioned above, but they also provided the music for the service, as well as becoming the border to the family members of the deceased who were in town for the funeral. The final nail in the coffin (no pun intended) was the undertaker also usually dug the grave for the body. 

Gun fighters and old west undertakers.
(Photo by Rpsycho (iStock))

Preservation of the Dead

The undertaker, as mentioned, held many jobs within the bubble of their unique profession. Dead bodies, naturally decompose, and prior to 1859, bodies had to be cleaned-up and smothered essentially with flowers to mask the stench of decay. After three to four days, the bodies would have to be buried because the rot and decay would be unbearable to anyone paying their respects to the fallen loved one or friend. However, after 1859, this changed dramatically.

At that time, a Russian chemist named Aleksandr Butlerov discovered Formaldehyde. Butlerov created this new solution by dissolving a gas within water and adding alcohol as a base. This new creation stabilized bacteria in the corpse and slowed decay considerably, allowing bodies to essentially be preserved. This, in turn, slowed the entire process of having to bury the body within days. This helped the undertaker considerably, as elaborate funerals and detailed preparations could be planned and paid for by the mourning family members. This increased the undertaker’s revenue as he could charge for all steps that he would be directly involved with. What began and ended with making coffins, now expanded to a very lucrative business. Also, it should be noted, that death in the Old West was not just shootouts and murders, but rather more mundane causes like old age, sickness, and accidental deaths. 

Getting Paid

The undertaker earned money in a few different ways. First, if the town was large enough to support such a profession, then the town would directly employ the individual. With an average life span of 37 years, people died of natural causes regularly, and their bodies needed to be attended to in order to keep the town “clean” of the dead. Second, since undertakers were indeed carpenters and woodworkers also, they would sell coffins to families that needed them for their own on-site burials on their own property. Finally, the Undertaker wore many hats centered around the days after a person’s death, so every step of the way until burial would equate to money into the undertaker’s pocket. 

All in a Day’s Work

As most other jobs become routine, so did the undertaker’s. Although his daily tasks centered around death, he was an integral part of a town’s infrastructure and daily activities. Though their skills with construction, wood-working and furniture building was their indirect path into the field. Once established, these men carved a prosperous career from those townspeople who’s lives, unfortunately, had come to an end.

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