Dolley was the 1st burial in a metallic coffin in Washington DC
Posted by Cunningb2 | Posted in Congressional Cemetery , Dolley Madison - First Lady , Undertaker | Posted on September 05, 2020
FUNERAL OF MRS. MADISON.
The most distinguished honors have been paid to the memory of Mrs. Madison. No mark of respect has been withheld. It was the first occasion on which the metallic air-tight case of Fisk & Raymond’s patent
manufacture has been used in this city for the interment of remains. It is of a different shape from a coffin, and is stripped of the painful associations which usually attend the ordinary receptacle of the dead. The case is metallic. When the lid is put on, it is strongly cemented and made air-tight, and thus the body is preserved in a great degree from the process of decomposition, and does not become disagreeable to the senses. In that part of the lid which is just over the face a small glass is put, which enables the spectator to catch the features; and when it is buried in the ground, the glass is covered with a metallic plate, on which is inscribed the name of the deceased.
To make the necessary arrangements for a public funeral, it was determined to postpone the ceremony until 4 o’clock last evening. The body had been deposited <...><...><...><...><...>in St. John’s Eposcopal<...><...> where hundreds went to see it.
The ceremonies on the occasion were conducted according to the programme, which we published on Sunday morning. The Church was crowded with officers of the government and citize
ns—with ladies and gentlemen. The President was present. Two of his cabinet were pall-bearers. Many ministers of the Gospel attended the last ceremonies that were paid to this beloved and celebrated lady. The Rev. Mr. Pyne was assisted in reading the funeral service by the Rev. Mr. French. Mr. Pyne delivered an appropriate and eloquent discourse upon the deceased.
The procession was one of the largest we have seen in this city. The remains were carried to the Congressional Burying Ground, where they were deposited in one of the vaults, there to repose until they can be conveyed to Montpelier, in Orange county, Virginia, to lie by the side of her distinguished husband, James Madison, ex-President of the United States. The whole ceremony was of the most august and touching description. It was worthy of the character of the deceased, and of the sympathies of this whole community.
Greenville Mountaineer, Greenville County, North Carolina, 27 July 1849
