M.M.White undertaker WashingtonDC Matthias M. White undertaker of Washington , DC Fisk and Raymond metallic coffins

White has moved in the Pennsylvania Avenue location and opened the new business and Fisk showroom.
It was a busy block and here are their new neighbors.

Residents 1850 Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd and 4 ½ w. 

Beveridge, Mrs. boarding house, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Beveridge, C. C., s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Brenner , Peter, fancy store, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.

Browning, P. YV, tailor, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Cattipliell, D. A., shoe store, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Colonization Society, office n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Conrad, Christian, artist, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Davis, John, painter, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 h w, 3d story.
Dickson, James, King’s hotel, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w
Duvall & Bro., merchant tailor, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w
Fitzgerald, James, tavern and fruit store, n side Pa av, b3 and 4 ½ w
Fowler, Samuel, tailor, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w
Gilbert, Nelson, boarding house, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Globe, Daily, office Jackson Hall, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w
Gray, Richard, (col) barber, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w
Greason, Wm., fruit store and tavern, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4? w.
House, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ e
Hunt, Harvey W., math. inst. maker, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w
Hurdle, T. & A., painters, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w
Jackson Hall, (J. C. Rives,) n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Jordan, M., Potomac house, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4| w.
King, P. H., hotel, n side Pa av, btw 3 and w.
Lee & Espey, cabinet makers, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4| w.
McCarty, M., tailor, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4b w.
McDermott, Michael, coach maker, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4]- w.
Mann, Chas., n side Pa av, btw 3 and 44 w.
Metropolis House, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 h w.
Naylor, F., tin and copper smith, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 w.

Office of the German Spectator, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 h w.

Office Colonization Society, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4| w.
Port Tobacco and Leonardtown stage office, Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w. Reed, Jame3, (col) s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 e.

Richards, J. H. T., shoe store, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4b w.
Richards, J. H. D., shoemaker, n side Pa av, btw 3 3 and 4 ½ w.
Rowland, David, exchange office, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Sinsheimer, L., clothing store, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Stetson, Mrs., boarding house, s side Pa av, 3 and 4 ½ w.
Sage, G. A., printing office, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Scott, Mrs., boarding house, s side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w.
Simms, E., & Son, gro. and wine store, s side Pa av, btw 3 & 4£ w.
Simms, Wm., ser. at King’s Hotel, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4) w.
Semmes, T. F., wine store, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4£ w.
Throop, J. V. N. , engraver, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 44 w.
Topham, G. W., Metropolis refectory, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 1/2 w
United States Hotel, E. S. Fuller, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4] w.
Williams, F. H., refectory, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4| w.
Yump, Francis, lodging house, n side Pa av, btw 3 and 4 ½ w. 

This is now the National Gallery 

 This is one of the last undertaker advertisements for M.M. White,  as you can see the Civil War has begun and the advertisement refers to being killed in battle. He has also moved from the 457 Pennsylvania Avenue location and moved to 297 B St., corner 3rd

Air- Tight Coffins 

To friends and relatives of the Dead 

Parents and friends living at a distance can have the bodies of their killed in battle, or who may die at the hospitals forwarded to them in IMPROVED AIR-TIGHT COFFINS, at moderate charge- Embalming, Coffin and Box from $30 to $35, and no extra charge. All orders promptly attended to M.M. White Undertaker and Embalmer 297 B st., corner 2nd. Washington

 This ran multiple times in The daily union newspaper Washington, D.C. December 1850

 FOR SALE- Fisk and Raymond’s elegant air-tight metallic cases, on the south side of Pennsylvania
Avenue, directly opposite Gadsby’s Hotel

Having now completed our extensive factory which has enabled us to meet the demands for our superior coffin, and being convinced that low process will secure sales, and greatly accommodate those who are so unfortunate as to need a coffin for their friends, we have reduced our process below what is now paid for a mahogany coffin. We attend to conducting funerals in the country or city with a strict regard to economy. Rumor to the contrary, the remains of Gen. Z. Taylor never were placed in one of our coffins: nor has any single instance ever occurred of one of them bursting from the fermentation of the body within.

 

Dec 6                                          M.M. White, Undertaker. 

 This was a rumor at the time here is the article that appeared in numerous papers about the exploding caskets. President Taylor has been exhumed numerous times HERE

 

This is actually a flyer in possession of the Library of Congress.

Fisk's patent air-tight metallic burial cases are for sale by M. M. White, undertaker Washington, March 1853

Library of Congress - Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 201, Folder 11. HERE

You can buy a metallic reproduction of it on Amazon here https://amzn.to/3iizSMO 

Coffins --Coffins advertisement 

 

The ad ran multiple times in the Evening Star and Washington Daily star in 1856 and 1857 

M.M. White SOLE AGENT FOR FISK’S Airtight Metallic Coffins for the city of Washington, wishes to inform the public that he has now on hand a large supply of all the sizes, similar in form to the richest wood coffin and beautifully finish imitation of rosewood. They can be sold at the same rates as a well finished mahogany coffin. These beautiful Airtight Coffins can be ready for use in 30 minutes for transportation to any part of the United States. The under signed attended to the UNDERTAKING in all its branches, at all hours of the day or night. Also on hand a supply of READY MADE WOOD COFFINS. 

Purchaseres are respectfully invited to call and see for themselves, at No, 457 Pennsylvania Avenue, south side, near corner of Third Street. 

Dec 8                    M.M. White

 

 

 

Read whole article HERE

 

 M.M. White participates in the first meeting of the Metropolitan mechanics' institute and enters Fisk Casket and he wins first place diploma ! The meeting was held in the east wing of the Patent Office.

Remember White was employed as Night watchman for the Patent Office for many years, as recently as 1849. So I'm sure he knew everyone .

The first meeting of the Metropolitan mechanics' institute for the promotion and encouragement of manufactures, commerce, and the mechanic and useful arts, will be opened at the City of Washington on Thursday, the 24th day of February, 1853 A record of the first exhibition of the Metropolitan mechanics' institute, held in the east wing of the Patent office

This seems to be some kind of Fisk catalog or advertisement, on the back it is describing the burial of Mrs Dolley Madison.

 

 Fisk endorsement: Washington April 5th 

Gentleman- We witness the utility of your ornamental " Patent Metallic Burial Case " used to convey the remains of the late Hon. John C. Calhoun to the Congressional Cemetery, which impressed us with the belief that it is the best article known to us for transporting the dead to their final resting place.

With respect , We subscribe ourselves , yours etc.

{Signed} Henry Clay, Lewis Cass, Dan. Webster, Wm. R King, Jeff Davis, J.M. Berrien, J.Y. Mason, D.R. Atchinson, A.C. Green, Wm. P Mangum, Henry Dodge, D.S. Dickinson.

Similar testimonials might be added without number.

Daniel Webster was one of the famous people to endorse Fisk coffins and he was buried in one in Massachusetts in 1852. My guess would be Mister Fisk sent one to Boston and that a local undertaker handled the funeral. This article describes (in detail) how the body looked after being in a sealed metal coffin.

The Fisk company had burned in 1850 and RD Fisk died in 1852 so its unclear how the Fisk casket was obtained in Boston.

Gleason's Pictorial magazine of November 13 and 20, 1852 featuring images of Daniel Webster's Funeral  "THE REMAINS OF MR. WEBSTER IN HIS LIBRARY, AT MARSHFIELD, MASS." and  "THE METALLIC CASE" (You can see the metallic coffin on the caisson )

 

Death, Burial and Iron Coffins How Almond Dunbar Fisk’s invention revolutionized death’s place in American life. 

By Scott Warnasch

 Iron coffins are fascinating artifacts of a time when friction between technology and tradition created a spiritual crisis in the early days of the United States. They’re also a great example of how the unintended effects of one invention can beget new and seemingly unrelated inventions and even new industries. Iron coffins were created to mitigate some of the negative effects of long-distance steam transportation on a traditionally sedentary society. The benefits of steam travel are many and obvious; however, there were also downsides that began to seep into the most personal corners of American life. One unintended consequence was that steam travel enabled unprecedented numbers of people to head out, die and be buried by strangers far from home. read on PBS

The Woman in the Iron Coffin - Listen: The Woman in the Iron Coffin on Dig: A History Podcast LISTEN

Wirt, John L. (1811–1857)

A policeman and civil servant, in 1849 John L. Wirt was a member of the Capitol Police. He went on to be elected a city Alderman, in which office he served four years. He was also an assistant funeral director, working with and for Mathias M. White, who sold the Fisk coffins (in one of which DPM was buried). Wirt died in 1857, not yet 50 years old, from a “hemorrhage of the lungs,” and was buried in Congressional Cemetery. In 1837 he married Margaret Rebecca Duley Wirt, who lived only two years more than her husband.

 ~~~~

Fisk, Almond Dunbar (1818–1850)

An entrepreneur and inventor, Almond D. Fisk was the son of Catherine Worthington and Solomon Fisk. In 1848, Fisk patented an improvement in the manufacture of coffins. “What I claim therein as new,” Fisk wrote in his patent, “is the manufacturing of coffins of cast or raised metal when made... to the human form.” Molded in two equal parts, the cases “united horizontally.” From these coffins, “the air may be exhausted so completely as entirely to prevent the decay of the contained body on principles well understood.” Thus the body was sealed in a sarcophagus that would preserve the deceased’s remains and prevent the spread of disease and, theoretically, putrefaction.

Due to high demand, Fisk partnered with his brother-in-law, William Raymond, and opened a foundry in New York to manufacture the coffins shortly after receiving his patent. John Payne Todd apparently viewed one of his coffins on display in Washington City in the spring of 1849. A few weeks later, Fisk wrote DPM about the possibility of reinterring JM in one of his coffins. It is unknown what DPM thought of that idea, but when she died that summer, she was interred in one of Fisk’s new coffins.

In 1840 Fisk married Phoebe Ann Raymond, with whom he had five children. In the fall of 1849 Fisk’s foundry was leveled by fire. Shortly thereafter, Fisk fell ill and died in the fall of 1850.

First quotation is from Fisk, Almond D., inventor; “Improvement in Coffins” U.S. Patent 5,920. November 14, 1848; second quotation, Daily National Intelligencer, 18 October 1850.

 Mrs Madison had wanted a metallic casket for the remains of President Madison who was buried in an unmarked grave in Virginia. Within a few month of receiving the letter from Mr. Fisk when she (and Todd) inquired about a Fisk casket for President Madison remains (April 1849) Mrs Dolley Madison dies in her Lafayette Square home in DC and is buried in Congressional Cemetery in a Fisk Casket.

 This is the bill for Dolley Madison's funeral sent from Almond Fisk and John Wirt to Todd Payne Mrs Madison's son.

 This letter from Almond D. Fisk to First Lady Dolley Madison (found in the Dolley Madison archives) answers lots.

This is exactly as the Capitol looked in 1847, its one of the earliest photographs. This is the original copper dome, the one we know know had not yet been constructed.

 

Her son has seen the display of the Fisk & Raymond casket in the rotunda of the US Congressional Building and asked Capitol police man , John L. Wirt ( MM White's best friend ) to have Almond Fisk contact Mrs Adams about getting a casket for President Adams remains. This is the letter Mr Fisk wrote Mrs Madison in April 1849

New York April 7, 1849

Honorable Mrs. James Madison

Madam,

Mr. J. L. Wirt, police officer of the capital, informs me that your son, Col. Todd, made some inquiries of him concerning the probable expense of a metallic case similar to the one I am exhibiting in the Rotunda. Also that Col. Todd spoke of the desire for more imperishable article, in which to preserve the

remains of our late, distinguished ex-President Madison.

Feeling the value and importance of the application of my production for such proposals, (as well also in the hearts of our countrymen, as in the comfort desired by immediate relatives), and sensible of the advantage I should derive by introducing my invention through such a channel, I have ventured to address you upon the subject and would say that if you would desire it and the expense, and the necessarily borne by yourself, we would furnish a case of such metal as you might desire and insert the remains of your late distinguished companion at the net cost to us.

A case of bronze metal would undoubtedly be more desirable, as by a combination which we can make more indestructible.

The expense for the metal and casting alone of a suitable one of this material would be about sixty dollars ($60). Of a composition principally iron, and enameled, we believe it would last several hundred years and the expense of the case alone would not probably twenty dollars ($20). With the necessary expense of transportation be added.

Col. Todd having seen the case in the Rotunda,

you would probably no other than his judgment for the certainty of its advantages. Such an undertaking would be a suitable consideration for Congress yet under different conditions.

May I expect your notice and answer on the subject?   

Very Respectfully,

Your Obedient Servant.

 

 My old web page - I now have up all of the information from that page and more on this blog! 

BROOKS, PRESTON SMITH, a Representative from South Carolina; born in Edgefield District, S.C., August 5, 1819; attended the common schools and was graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) at Columbia in 1839; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1845 and commenced practice in Edgefield, S.C.; member of the State house of representatives in 1844; served in the Mexican War as captain in the Palmetto Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Congresses and served until his resignation on July 14, 1856 (March 4, 1853-July 14, 1856); resigned despite failed attempt to expel him for his assault upon Senator Charles Sumner; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Thirty-fourth Congress); reelected in a special election to the Thirty-fourth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation, sworn in August 1, 1856, and served until his death (August 1, 1856-January 27, 1857); had been reelected to the Thirty-fifth Congress; died on January 27, 1857, in Washington, D.C.; interment in Willow Brook Cemetery, Edgefield, S.C. 

 * Brooks was too tall for Fiske casket 

South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks’s Attack on Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts LINK

 The US Capitol building looked like this in the years MM White is running his unde3rtaking business from Pennsylvania Ave.

The higher dome is under constructions and this is the canal when the Mall now is - right behind where his shop would have been.

MM White is still a watchman at the patent office and his best friend John L. Wirt is a capitol police man and I think that's how they connected with Mr Fisk to sell his coffins in DC.