Some of mine were buried at sea as well. These are funerals which are
traditional, long after a person has left sea duty.
~~
Jeffery Scism,
USGenWeb Project Local Coordinator Rep
NC/NE region
Bill Waterhouse wrote:
As I read of the many on this & other lists who have become frus-
trated by being unable to find the burial sites of their ancestors,
family members, or others, despite many hours of researching &
walking of cemeteries; I would like to point out another possibility
which few, if any, consider...that being cremation. Cremation is not
a new concept as the disposing of human bodies on a funeral pyre
-usually one body at a time-dates back in America, at least, to
Colonial times. Most of us have read of the; albeit horrific; body
pyres that were utilized, usually after the biggest of the battles of
the Civil War, to dispose of the often thousands of bodies which
accumulated as a result of the fighting. This was done out of
necessity as the digging of individual, or even mass graves, was
out of the question due to lack of manpower. However, the most
compelling reason to dispose of the bodies as quickly as possible
was to prevent the spread of disease which was rampant at the
time. Very few probably realize that of the 250,000-300,000 men
of the Confederate Army who died during the war, only one quarter
of those deaths were incurred in battle, with the remainder dying
of disease. Union Army deaths due to disease were somewhat lesser
due to the availabilty of more sophisicated medicines & techniques.
Several years after the War the crematory furnace was developed
& many funeral establishments had them installed in their facilities
leading to the wider useage of this method. I recently spent the
better part of a year attempting to find the burial places of an
ancestor, a CW veteran, & his wife who both died in Chicago, with-
out success. A search of the cemeteries in & around Chicago & of
the National Cemeteries yielded no results either. In speaking later
with a member of the branch of the family to which the deceased
belonged, I learned that cremation was literally a tradition in that
branch, & I was told of a scattering of ashes at sea & in various
cemeteries in several states. Thus, after a period of 100 years
have elapsed since the death of these two people, & with not finding
any evidence of cemetery burials, I must 'assume' that even with-
out any proof, that they were cremated. Also with many families
not having the funds to purchase a cemetery plot, a gravestone, &
other costs associated with a funeral, cremation was no doubt a
lower cost alternative. Also, as the ashes are usually placed in an
urn, rather than scattering the ashes, the urns could be kept at
home, where the family members could feel that the deceased was
"always close by." What might have happened to the urns through-
out the ensuing years might well be "Another story."
To those who might feel like they are 'chasing their tail' in attempting
to find where their family member's remains are; this just may be
another consideration to keep in mind.
Bill Waterhouse
Mystic, CT
-END-
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