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

Boyd's Washington and Georgetown directory : containing a business directory of Washington

 Taken up astray on the premises 457 Pa avenue night of Friday December - 1859 a dark black and white spotted sow, which the owner can have by calling on M.M. White and paying he charges and c. dec 14

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 

What we know we know from the 2 census records that Ellen and the family appears in. Mathias doesn't not appear in any census but the 1840 and it does not provide any personal information. Not sure why Ellen didn't just enumerate the information about him in 1860. I can't find the entire family in the 1850 census and they'd been in DC since 1847 Emma born)

 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