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Emergence of the death care industry.

1865

DDD
WAR

Before the Civil War, women in most racial and cultural communities prepared the bodies of family members for burial. After President Abraham Lincoln dies, his body is taken across the country by train and is embalmed so as to preserve it. At the same time, family members of slain Civil War soldiers in the Union want to bring their children home, and as a result turn to embalming practices. This focus on embalming leads to the creation of the professional death care industry.

Simultaneously, fewer people begin dying in their homes as they are brought into hospitals and other care facilities, marking the movement away from personal connection with those who are dying to an industry with a basis in profit.