Nobody really knows for sure when hearses first came into use. A best guess, if any, would most likely be during the time of the Bubonic Plague because of the widespread death. Bodies were piled on each other on the carts that were used to haul the bodies out of town or to the nearest burial spot. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone saw a business opportunity and that’s how hearses came to be.
Hearses being used for a funeral procession have been around for hundreds of years. There have been the horse drawn carriages for most of this period that we know of. What I didn’t realize until recently is the very wide variety of hearses that have been used over the centuries. It’s something we normally think about. Are you really concerned with how ornate the hearse is while you’re following it to the cemetery? In recent years, the style of the hearse is extremely bland in comparison to the old ones.
So, I scoured the internet looking for the most unusual, rare, unique, and elaborate hearses possible. What I found was extraordinary.
First, here are some links to pages with hearses: HawgHeavenHearse.com, HearsePics.Blogspot.com, VintagteCarTalk.com, and EmmaBalmer.Hubpages.com.
Naturally, what does this have to do with genealogy? Well, genealogy is the study of history and while this is history to us now, it was their present day to them. But here is the question I want you to wonder: in what kind of a funeral hearse have my relatives taken to the cemetery to be buried? It’s such an obscure thought to think about in terms of your relatives, but interesting nonetheless.
You can click on each of the pictures to view larger ones. I sincerely hope you find this just as interesting as I did!
