Undertaker

Undertaker. . When the undertaker came on the scene during the 19th Century, he often operated in conjunction with a furniture store. , Following the Civil War in the 1860s, the laying out of the dead often included embalming done in the home of the deceased where most deaths occurred. The body was generally laid out at home with the service in the home or church. , As smaller homes and apartments became more prevalent around World War II, the undertaker was becoming the funeral director. Sometimes he had a place in his furniture store to lay out the body, or he converted a store front building to an undertaking establishment. Many also converted residences to funeral homes, or they constructed buildings for the sole purpose of providing facilities to prepare the dead for a visitation and for the funeral service if it was not to be held in church or elsewhere.