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Surnames: Aldrich, Bixler, Feiten
Classification: Obituary
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Ei.2ADI/2396
Message Board Post:
Dedicated to all the "eccentrics'' out there--we make the world more
interesting!
Death of Willard Aldrich --- Eccentric Funeral Preparation
Willard Aldrich, whose fatal illness from consumption has heretofore been reported, died
at midnight last night, in his 42nd year.
The eccentric preparations made for his funeral prior to his death, has been the town talk
for some time. He had a large vault constructed, five by seven feet in size, which is to
be covered with a solid square stone one foot in thickness. Within this vault he is to
have four large pictures hung. The pictures are lithographs of Indian and frontiersmen
fights, and were especial favorites of his. His coffin, which was built by John Feiten,
according to his own designs, is one of the most singular burial cases ever constructed.
It is made so that the corpse will be in a sitting position. At first, Aldrich proposed
having a willow rocking chair placed on the inside, but finally abandoned that idea, as
well as of wearing a hat and having some articles of personal property buried with him.
The funeral will take place Sunday. The vault above mentioned was made large enough to
contain his mother’s remains also when she dies. The mother [Elizabeth Bixler] coincided
with all t!
he queer notions of her son, it is said.
Mishawaka [Indiana] Enterprise, 8 September 1882, page 3