Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1942-07-02
Facts and Folks
OF WINDSOR
(By C. B. Ray)

8ssft IL
son that we will dislike to have tc
call, they are as far as we have
. ever known kindly set of men
and women, for now we find many
women either in business for them
selves, or employed by someone
else. We find that only a few men
have been in the business here, or
at least it seems that way to us
when we think about how long
since the village was started. While
in the early days all coffins were
hand made, we have not been able
to find who the men were who
changed the walnut and oak boards
into coffins. IT seems to us that on
account of the shape of coffins, they
must have been harder to make
!. than the present caskets. OF course
the casket of the present is much
more stylishif that's the word.
Here Is what we mean. In our boy
hood and young manhood even the
cofffns and scaskets kept in stock
were unlined and in many cases
without handles. When someone
died, a relative, or friend went to
the undertaker's home and selected
the coffin. We remember when the
handles were separate, that is
there were six-three on each side,
instead of the bar, as on the ones
now in use. The cheapest ones
We're lined with muslin, and the
higher priced ones with better quail
ity, at least higher priced materials.
At that time the equipment of the
undertaken consisted of horse
drawn hearse, two stools to set the
coffin on, and web straps to lower
the coffin into the grave. Some
times if the undertaken forgot his
straps, lines were taken from the
harness and used. We might tell
some of our younger readers that
in those days rough boxes and
vaults had not come into use. The
grave was dug down to depth
minus the height of the coffin, but
wider then, from there down, just
big enough to admit the coffin.
Boards were sawed the length and
the width of the grave, and placed
over the entire surface, then the
grave was filed Our informants
tell us that George Riley, cabinet
maker, made many coffins. Eugene
Pierrot and Jesse Lane were said
to be the first undertakers. They
sold to George w. Jones and New
ell Swift. Later Jones bought Mr..
Swift's interest, and continued un-
til 1913, when he sold to David
Van Fossen, who with his son, Don
aid, have conducted the business
here. The son Donald also is en-
ployed with C. E. Fisher of McCon-
nelsville. 1t appears to us that this
must be a much too healthy COM
munity for the undertaking busi-
ness, as there has only been four
funerals in two and half months,
and one of them was in a territory
which could have gone to one of
two other companies. 1t costs more
to be buried now than in the early
days, all of which can be account
ed for from the fact that folks are
expecting more. The man or wom-
an who wants to enter the business
must attend embalming school, pass
a state test and the equipment re-
quired costs up in the thousands of
dollars instead of few hundred as
formerly. All material used in the
making of caskets has gone up by
leaps and bounds. Silk and satin
have replaced muslin. We know
that David Van Fossen Is handy
with edged tools. While he could
no doubt do as good job as
did the pioneers, he only makes
coffins for still-borns when request