The Mystery of a 19th Century Death

This isn't a traditional who-dunnit mystery. The question is not who killed Nathan Eakman or why. But there are a lot of questions surrounding the circumstances of his death and burial.

Nathan Eakman, my husband's great (x2) grandfather, died in 1863. We don't know much about Nathan's death and even less about his life. Most of the information I have been able to uncover is related to the settlement of his estate.

His widow, Hannah, was left with three small children ranging from newborn to four years old. The estate she inherited was valued at $292.60, or about $64,000. Not a lot of money for a young widow to raise three small children. There was no land to inherit, and most of the value of the estate was in crops: hay, oats, corn, and wheat. The most valuable items Nathan owned prior to his death were a $50 mare and a second mare and her colt, worth $80. Nearly half of Hannah's inheritance, $28,500, was tied up in three horses.

Those three horses made me think that perhaps Nathan was the sort of man who was always going to get rich. He owned no cows or hogs no oxen or mules or even chickens, but he had three expensive horses. And a lot of crops to feed them (and his family). I felt a bit sorry for Hannah reading the inventory of Nathan's estate. Seemed like she has married a man who was a bit of a rascal.

Then I read the accounts charged to Nathan's estate related to his burial.

In the mid-19th century burial customs required that Nathan's body be washed and dressed in his best clothes. An open casket funeral was held within a day or two of the death and then the body was buried.

It appears that either Nathan had no clothes fit to be buried in, or else Hannah was determined to give her husband a proper send-off. Among the bills for funeral expenses were $7.80 for a pair of pants, a neck tie, socks, and shoes, $2 for a shirt, and another $4.50 for a coat. The total of $14.30, or $3135, seems like an excessive amount to be spent for a burial. And what in the world was Nathan doing prior to his death that left him with no socks or shoes in which to be buried?

Since the United States was engaged in a Civil War it was possible that Nathan was a soldier who died while in hospital and his body was sent home in hospital dress. However, I double-checked and found no record that Nathan Eakman served in either the Union or Confederate Armies.

I tried to think of manners of death which would leave the decedent's clothing missing or unfit for burial. If he was burned, it is unlikely that his body would have been dressed for the funeral as the coffin would not have been opened. If Nathan drowned, he may have kicked off his shoes prior to jumping into the water. There are all sorts of other fanciful possibilities but there is just no way of knowing how he died. There is no record of his death in Armstrong County aside from the probate records. "What Happened to Nathan Eakman's Clothes" remains a mystery.

There was one final bill for the funeral expenses of Nathan Eakman: $11 ($2410) for building his seven-foot long coffin.

That struck me as a rather long coffin until I did some research and discovered that the average coffin today is the same length. Further research indicated that the average American man today is only about an inch taller than the average man in the 1860s. So Nathan's seven-foot long coffin wasn't an extraordinary size. It is interesting that the cabinetmaker specified the length of the coffin, but perhaps he had different prices for different sizes.

It was also interesting to note that Hannah spent nearly 10% of her inheritance on burying her husband. Why would she spend such a large amount of money on burying Nathan but not spend any money on a headstone to mark his grave? (there is no indication of the location of Nathan's burial and no record of a marker being placed)

Nathan Eakman was an enigma in life. We only know that he existed because his name appeared on his son's death certificate, and because we found these records regarding the probate of Nathan's estate.

But even his death was surrounded in mystery. Where and how (and precisely when) did he die? Why did he need brand-new socks and shoes and a shirt and a tie for his burial? Why did Hannah spend so much money on his funeral but didn't mark his grave?