funeral expense "ice attendance"
found a list of my ancestors funeral expenses and one of the items listed is 'ice attendance' - $5 charge in 1895. There's also a charge for 'gloves' for $.96. What is 'ice attendance' and why is there a charge for gloves (and who are they for?!).
thanks, Kris
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Re: funeral expense "ice attendance"
I'm assuming that the body needed to be kept on ice for a couple of days. Gloves might be for the person handling the body.
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Re: funeral expense "ice attendance"
thanks for the reply........not sure re the gloves......it seems like they charged all different amounts for them (seems like most of the funerals had this expense) so I'm assuming that meant different quantities of them. Couldn't all have been handling the body, could they? I need a primer on old time funeral procedures!
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Re: funeral expense "ice attendance"
It's possible that they would throw out the gloves each time. Plus, they might have used more gloves if more people had to lift the body...? A large, grown man would need more to lift him than a child would. I'm just guessing, though...
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Re: funeral expense "ice attendance"
doing some research and it's amazing how LITTLE info is out there for this........but I think the gloves were given to the 'bearers' Of course, I don't know for sure (yet!)but I found this......
"In a simple ‘walking funeral’, as described above, the bearers were friends and relatives, and chosen, if possible, to reflect the status of the deceased: older people, especially if married, would be carried by married men; unmarried girls by young women (or young bachelors, if the road to the church was a long one); babies and little children by older children in white. They were generally given black gloves"
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Re: funeral expense "ice attendance"
Interesting! I didn't know that!
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