When Did Railroad Begin Transporting Human Bodies for Burial ?

[NW Mailing List]

Frank, that is pretty neat. Is there a picture of this memo available
anywhere?

Mike Rector

On Sat, May 21, 2022 at 6:52 AM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> FWIW, still firmly attached to a freight door in the Rural Retreat Depot
> is an original memo dated 1893, instructing the agent how to sell tickets
> to go to Richmond for the reinterment of Jefferson Davis. Davis'remains
> were recovered from his grave in New Orleans, and transported by rail to
> Richmond. Based on reports of spectator stops along the way I believe he
> came through Greensboro rather than through Rural Retreat.
>
> Frank Akers
> RRDF
>
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>
> On Fri, May 20, 2022 at 7:54 PM, NW Mailing List
> <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> Need the counsel of the Wise Men !
>
> I am working on the biography of a man named Henry Courtenay Hughes,
> 1810-1862.  Courtenay grew up at Smithboro, Md, less than 10 miles east of
> Hagerstown, and his family maintained a substantial residence in
> Hagerstown.  Courtenay's father and grandfather were in the iron business
> and had several iron furnaces in the iron-rich ridge east of Hagerstown.
> He was named after one of his grandfathers, Henry Courtenay, who was a
> Captain in the Rev. War.
>
> Courtenay's claim to fame is that he was one of four men involved in
> operating the first telegraph line in Pennsylvania, January 7, 1846.   This
> line ran from Lancaster, Pa, to Harrisburg, Pa.  In Lancaster the telegraph
> instruments were located in the depot of the Philadelphia & Columbia RR,
> and at Harrisburg they were located in the depot of the Harrisburg,
> Portsmouth, Mt Joy & Lancaster RR.  Two telegraphers were at each end of
> the wire, Courtenay Hughes and James D. Reid being at Lancaster.  (If
> anyone wants the whole story, as written by William Bender Wilson in  1902,
> 21 pages, I can send it to you.)
>
> Now here is my question:  Courtenay died while sojourning at a hotel in
> Wilmore, Cambria County, Pa, which is a straight-line distance of 75 miles
> to his burial spot in Hagerstown, and the transportation of his body would
> have involved a railroad distance of over 200 miles, should it have been
> shipped by rail.
>
> My conclusion is that Courtenay was burred where he died (Wilmore,) and
> later his remains were moved to Rose Hill Cemetery, Hagerstown. for
> re-burial.  His family certainly had the means to arrange that.
>
> Courtenay died 23 Feb 1862 in Wilmore (a newspaper article substantiates
> that.)  But the cemetery he is presently buried in did not even open until
> 1865, and their records show he was "buried" there on 11 July 1877.  The
> cemetery office believes this indicates a "re-burial."  This substantiates
> my theory that Courtenay was originally buried in Wilmore, Pa., and his
> remains were moved later.  (And wouldn't you know it, the Hagerstown
> newspapers for the entire year1866 are missing.)
>
> But just to ensure that I have covered all angles in this speculative
> conclusion, I put this question forward:  WHEN did railroads begin
> transporting human remains in express cars?  My (further) guess is that it
> was the express companies who got into this line of business, not the
> railroads themselves... but WHEN?
>
>  -- abram burnett
> Your Turnip Purchases Finance My Yacht !
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