Death in the American Victorian Household Part 1

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In our 21st century society most of us never see death. Our old and ailing tend to die in nursing homes and hospitals. Rarely, our friends and family present at the moment our loved one passes to the next life. We are informed my medical staff the event has occurred and only a few of us take the opportunity to view the body. 
The Victorian era is many times of great interest to us as it was a time when death seemed to be almost morbidly celebrated. It may same strange to us that in a society where untimely death was so common that the process of grief and burial itself consumed such a great part of the lives of the living.

Rope being placed in a casket  then a bell was hooked to make sure no one was buried alive.

Most of the time people died at home in Victorian times. It did not matter if it were in a disease infested city flat or a pastoral Midwestern farmhouse. In the case of the latter, it was most likely that the deceased was dying into the home in which they had been born and that their parents had passed in. Since infant mortality was extremely high, it was very likely the joy of a birth was replaced by mourning for infant taken far too early in life. In urban areas where epidemics may have taken many in the same household , expected rules of display of the body in the home may have had to been put aside to account for several deaths occurring close together in the same household(Rothman, 2005) 
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Death of the head of household was a very grave matter literally and figuratively for a Victorian household. Poor and middle class household faced the loss of the main bread winner and laws demanded debts be paid without regard to the financial welfare of the surviving household. Middle class Widows had no property rights in Victorian America and male relatives who inherited homes could literally put them out on the street. Given that death in childbirth was common and many men married more than once, a disliked stepmother may have found herself going from middle class comfort too the street. Her children if not specifically provided for in a will may have had to rely on the kindness of other relatives to not become destitute.

Soon after a loved one was declared dead, they were in general laid out in the parlor or the best room in the home to allow other friends, neighbors, and other relatives to view the body. In homes with more means the body would be laid out in the casket they would be buried in. In less affluent homes the dead would be simply laid out on a table or set in a chair. Sometimes children would be posed as if they were sleeping in the very beds they had passed in (Rothman, 2005) 
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The deceased would have had their bodies washed and displayed in their Sunday best. Clothing tended to be passed on in even most Middle Class households so if the budget was truly constrained the deceased might be displayed in a simple and cheap white robe or coat. Those who could afford new clothing or elaborate clothing would spare no expense to deck out their dead well yet tastefully. Most upper class Victorians while elaborate in funeral parades to the cemetery kept casket and casket clothing simple, because it was considered an insult to the poor who could not remember their dead with such finery. The Victorians seemed to recognize that at least in display of the body, death was the great equalizer.