August 18, 1976 – The Iowa City Press-Citizen publishes Johnson County historian Irving Weber’s extensive article on the Miller family of Washington Township and the Mennonite farming connection between furniture making & funeral planning.
Furniture and undertaking may, at first glance, seem like an odd combination. However, during the pioneer days, the role of undertaker quickly fell to those with related skills: the cabinetmakers, who could build caskets. After a death, for example, someone in the family would bring the local cabinetmaker some record of the size of the deceased —perhaps a pole notched to indicate the person’s length and width (see pic above). In turn, the craftsman would make a coffin to those dimensions.
READ MORE ABOUT THIS IOWA STORY HERE
This Day In History is an Our Iowa Heritage blog series that offers you a little bit of Iowa trivia from a large selection of stories on our website. Subscribe to this FREE blog and you’ll get a new email from us daily.
Join us for Our Iowa Heritage blog posts.
Learn some historical facts about Iowa City, Johnson County, or Eastern Iowa.
Amaze your friends.
Pingback: August 17, 1933. | Our Iowa Heritage