Taming the “King of Terrors”: Ritual and Death in Schenectady, New York, 1844–1860

By means of two diaries, describing in detail five deaths in Schenectady, N.Y., American rituals of death are examined to demonstrate the importance of community and family in the nineteenth century. Religious values and rituals, some of them centuries old, gave a familiar shape to the behavior of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social history 1994-06, Vol.27 (4), p.717-734
Main Author: Wells, Robert V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autobiographical literature
Communities
Death
Death & dying
Death rituals
Deaths
Diaries
Fear
Funerals
Funerary rituals
History
Indexing in process
Jewish rituals
Palmer, Thomas (diarist)
Pearson, Jonathan
Prayer
Religious rituals
Rites and ceremonies
Ritual
Rituals
Social aspects
Sons
Soul
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Summary:By means of two diaries, describing in detail five deaths in Schenectady, N.Y., American rituals of death are examined to demonstrate the importance of community and family in the nineteenth century. Religious values and rituals, some of them centuries old, gave a familiar shape to the behavior of the people studied here. When circumstances permitted, nineteenth-century Americans controlled the way they wanted to die according to a clearly understood ideal. At the same time, emphasis on particular parts of the overall ritual and adherence to the ideal varied because of accidents of death and personal characteristics and circumstances.
ISSN:0022-4529
1527-1897
DOI:10.1353/jsh/27.4.717