{"id":6564,"date":"2014-03-25T17:03:10","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T17:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=6564"},"modified":"2017-04-14T18:19:49","modified_gmt":"2017-04-14T22:19:49","slug":"peculiar-unusual-and-stranger-than-fiction-obituaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/peculiar-unusual-and-stranger-than-fiction-obituaries.html","title":{"rendered":"Humorous, Unusual, and Stranger-than-Fiction Obituaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary searches old newspapers to find odd and humorous obituaries\u2014some of which will give you a chuckle.<\/em><\/p>\n

Reading obits is part of the everyday life of family historians\u2014but some are almost stranger than fiction! Here are some unusual obituaries found in the online collection of GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Untimely Death Notices<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some people die young\u2014but more than one person has had their death reported numerous times while they were still alive!<\/p>\n

The most famous of these was the humorist Samuel Clemens death (1835-1910), better known by his pen name \u201cMark Twain.\u201d Newspapers repirted Mark Twain\u2019s death date seven times before his actual fateful end. So how did Mark Twain die? Twain\u2019s death was \u201cgreatly exaggerated,\u201d as he was prone to say. One erroneous report occurred in 1907, when his demise was supposedly met during a dense fog while aboard H. H. Roger\u2019s yacht. So with all of these false allegations and lies, when did Mark Twain die? Reports say that Mark Twain was buried in the 21st of April, 1910.<\/p>\n

\"Report<\/a>
Baltimore American (Baltimore, Maryland), 5 May 1907, page 16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another tale was spun about American pioneer and frontiersman Daniel Boone (1734-1820), as noted in this GenealogyBank blog article: The Lessons of Daniel Boone\u2019s Obituary: Check and Double Check<\/a>. What an intricate literary fabrication the author of Boone\u2019s obituary wove. If you read the obituary closely, he couldn\u2019t possibly have known the details\u2014since he reported Boone died alone:<\/p>\n

\u00a0In this position, without a struggle, he breathed his last.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"false<\/a>
Providence Gazette (Providence, Rhode Island), 19 September 1818, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This next obituary, from 1889, is another example of an untimely death notice.<\/p>\n

Who would believe that an obituary could be published 18 years after a death? Perhaps Mr. Cartier\u2019s wife needed closure\u2014or, as the obituary mentioned, wished to silence \u201ctongue waggers\u201d (gossipers) who wouldn\u2019t acknowledge that he had been lost at sea in 1871.<\/p>\n

\"obituary<\/a>
New York Herald (New York, New York), 20 May 1889, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Misunderstood Diseases<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another oddity is the reporting of diseases that were not widely understood during the time period.<\/p>\n

\"banner<\/a><\/p>\n

Ever hear of Tourette\u2019s syndrome<\/a>, a neurological disease characterized by tics and uncontrollable outbursts of cursing? Mr. Herrington most likely was a sufferer, as his greatest fault was his extravagant use of profanity. Thank goodness he enjoyed the company of a respectable family, despite his inability to control his condition.<\/p>\n

\"obittuary<\/a>
New York Tribune (New York, New York), 12 December 1898, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sleeping diseases are often linked with folklore, as in this account of the \u201cSleeping Beauty.\u201d Miss Golsey passed away in 1873 after being asleep for 24 years! Her obituary indicates a comatose condition, but doesn\u2019t explain how she took nourishment during that long time period.<\/p>\n

\"obituary<\/a>
Cincinnati Daily Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio), 9 November 1873, page 9<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Persnickety Penmanship<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some notices might have been worded better if the wordsmith had taken care to proofread the work!<\/p>\n

I call this persnickety penmanship, an affliction many writers encounter. But the resulting mistakes can be fun to read, as in this case where an obituary reported that a woman gave a dinner for the church organ and another for the church carpet\u2014instead of for real people. At the end, the poor wording seems to indicate that it was unusual for her to be married and to take her children to church!<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, New York), 13 August 1891, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s an obituary reporting that a cast-iron wheel exploded after a long illness! Many readers probably took a double-take until they realized the reporter intermingled news items that should have been in two separate paragraphs!<\/p>\n

The obituary reads:<\/p>\n

A large cast-iron wheel, revolving 900 times a minute, exploded in the city lately, after a long and painful illness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Jersey<\/a>
Jersey Journal (Jersey City, New Jersey), 20 October 1890, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Laughed to Death<\/strong><\/p>\n

Laughing isn\u2019t always safe\u2014and if you search old newspapers, you find it is an all-too-common cause of death. Searching on the phrase \u201cLaughed to Death\u201d in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> returns over 140,000 articles, including these headlines:<\/p>\n