Historic Hood River
Crandall and Burget
12-16-2016
Notes
There wasn’t much in Hood River in 1889, so residents depended on merchants in the Dalles for anything beyond the most basic supplies. Before Sam Bartmess opened his furniture and undertaking business on Oak Street, Crandall and Burget filled the need for chairs and coffins.
Charlott
I think Crandall was Charles Jesse Crandall, but not sure about Burget.
I am thinking that anything purchased from them up in The Dalles would have had to come either by boat or over The Old Dalles Road, which was not an easy trek. Coming via the road would have been quite a challange in the winter. My great-grandparents settled up on top on The Old Dalles Rd. in 1891 and my grandpa used to tell that it was a very long round trip from up there to Hood River and back, which took the greater portion of the day. Having driven that road many times I just can visualize that poor team laboring to get back up, especially if they were carrying much of a load. I would venture a guess if there was snow it was a no go……
L.E.
Charlott, your mention the difficulties of traveling….we just had a flurry of snowstorms, which made driving at night difficult to see. Try turning off your headlights, (not while you are still on the road), and picture yourself trying to find your way with a horse and buggy, or walking as many old timers had to do. It is a bit frightening.
This advertisement emphasizes how families had to deal with the death of a loved one. Other than the coffin, what would be undertaking goods?
My grandmother told about having to sit in a room of their house, with her sister in the coffin, who had died from an appendicitis attack. I think there was a tradition that you did not leave the deceased alone until they were buried?
Charlott
L. E. I think you are correct about sitting with the deceased loved one until the funeral service. I think family members took turns. In those days the burial was quite quick. I have seen in my own research of my various family lines, there were times if one passed in the morning, the burial was that afternoon. In some instances, living far from an actual town, they whipped up their own casket and had a short service of some form and that was it. Life went on in those rural areas…
As to other so called "undertaking goods" that might mean various types of fabric for a casket to be lined in. I don’t know exactly what else that might mean. I am wondering if by chance these early undertaking parlors also were dealing in tombstones?
Kenn
I understood the reason for attending the body, the "wake", was in case the person was not truly deceased.
Jerry Larsen
The terms "saved by the bell" and "dead ringer" come from issues associated with those early burials. Sometimes the person was not actually dead, but were buried because they appeared to be. Somehow this was discovered, and they began to put a hole in the top of the casket and led a string up to the surface of the ground. If the supposed dead person awoke and pulled the string, it would ring a bell, and they could be rescued. This actually turned out to be a hoax.