Research Catalog

Title

A better place : death and burial in nineteenth-century Ontario / Susan Smart.

Author

Smart, Susan.

Publication

Toronto : Ontario Genealogical Society and Dundurn Press, 2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Ontario Genealogical Society

Description

234 p. : ill.; 22 cm.

Summary

"A Better Place describes the practices around death and burial in 19th-century Ontario. Funeral rituals, strong religious beliefs, and a firm conviction that death was a beginning not an end helped the bereaved through their times of loss in a century where death was always close at hand"--Page 4 of cover.

Subject

• 1800-1899
• Funeral rites and ceremonies > Ontario > History
• Burial > Ontario > History
• Cemeteries > Ontario > History
• Death > History > Ontario > 19th century

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-234).

Additional Formats (note)

• Issued also in an electronic format.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Machine generated contents note: pt. I Death and Burial -- Introduction -- ch. 1 Death and Attitudes -- ch. 2 Pioneer Death and Burial -- "The body was washed and laid out" -- "The coffin was always home-made" -- "Preparation was made for the wake" -- "Neighbours and friends, old and young, begin to assemble" -- "There was in the morning a service of more than ordinary solemnity" -- "Then the coffin was placed upon the bier and covered with the mortecloth" -- "The `old log church cemetery'" -- ch. 3 Elaboration is the Norm -- The Funeral Cortege -- The Hearse -- The Coffin -- The Wake -- Women and Funerals -- Newspapers -- ch. 4 Victorian Customs, the Civil War, and the Rise of Funeral Homes -- The Death of Prince Albert -- The Civil War -- The Rise of the Funeral Home -- ch. 5 The Beginnings of Cemeteries -- Cemeteries in the Countryside -- Cemeteries in Towns and Villages -- Winter Burials -- Tombstones -- ch. 6 The Establishment of Cemeteries in Three Towns -- Niagara-on-the-Lake -- Kingston -- Peterborough -- ch. 7 The Establishment of Cemeteries in Toronto -- ch. 8 Differences According to Religion -- Anglican -- Jewish -- Mennonite -- Quaker (The Religious Society of Friends) -- Roman Catholic -- ch. 9 Origins of Funeral Customs -- The Wake -- Coffins -- Wearing of Black -- Flowers and Food -- Tombstones and Epitaphs -- Mementoes of the Dead -- Conclusion -- pt. II Genealogical Implications -- Introduction -- ch. 10 Death and Attitudes -- Finding Local Histories -- Nineteenth-Century Diseases -- Consolation Literature -- ch. 11 Pioneer Death and Burial -- Church Records -- Estate Files -- Coroners' Reports -- Other Sources for Pre-1869 Death Records -- ch. 12 Elaboration is the Norm -- Official Death Registrations -- Newspapers -- ch. 13 Victorian Customs, the Civil War, and the Rise of Funeral Homes -- Family History Sources at Home -- Funeral Homes -- ch. 14 The Beginnings of Cemeteries -- Finding Burial Records -- ch. 15 Differences According to Religion -- Anglican -- Jewish -- Mennonite -- Quaker (The Religious Society of Friends) -- Roman Catholic -- United Church of Canada -- Timeline -- Glossary -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Part I -- Part II.

ISBN

• 9781554888993
• 1554888999

OCLC

• 704032216
• SCSB-11666270

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library