Virginia Capitol Connections Summer 2019

Earthly Departures of Virginia-Born Presidents

By Bernie Henderson

A few Capitol Connections readers might remember me from the 30 years I was in Virginia’s government but many of them probably do not know that I also have a non-government career in funeral service. My interest in political history caused me to read many biographies of our presidents. I realized that, except for those presidents who were assassinated, even the most voluminous biographies typically gave little information about the president’s death and nothing about his funeral. This

organize the procession of Charlottesville residents and University of Virginia students to attend the graveside service devolved into a fight and most residents and reporters missed the service. Only one reporter and a few residents and students went to the service; one of those students was Edgar Allan Poe. James Madison died at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 28, 1836, at the age of 85 years and 104 days. His physician, who also had been Thomas Jefferson’s physician, offered to administer treatments to extend his life so he might die on July 4, like Presidents Jefferson, Adams and Monroe (meaning four of the first five Presidents would have Independence Day as their date of death), but Madison declined. Madison had no viewing or visitation and he was buried one day after his death in a coffin made by his slaves from wood grown at Montpelier. James Monroe died at 3:15 p.m. on Monday, July 4, 1831, at the age of 73 years and 67 days. He was the first President who did not die at his own home; he was at his daughter’s home in NewYork. He had two elaborate funerals, twenty-nine years apart, which were the first and second Presidential funerals paid by government, but not the federal government; New York paid for the first one and Virginia paid for the second. When his remains were brought to Rockett’s Landing in Richmond for burial at Hollywood Cemetery the crowd was so unruly that Mayor Joseph Mayo gave a twenty-minute lecture reminding those assembled that this was a funeral and not a party. After the burial, the military escorts and band gathered at the Capitol, partying with locals and playing what the press described as “inappropriate songs.” Governor Henry Wise issued orders for the police not to interfere “with the soldiers’ expressions of grief and bereavement.” William Henry Harrison died at 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 4, 1841, at the age of 68 years and 54 days. He was the first President to die in office. Facts contradict the legend that he died from pneumonia contracted at his inauguration. He evidenced good health and an active life for three weeks after his inauguration. He caught a severe cold after being caught in a bad storm while on a walk and that sent him to his deathbed. Recent research indicates that his weakened condition resulted in contracting typhoid fever from the water from the White House well that was contaminated by the nearby municipal cesspool. He was the first President to die in the White House and to lie in state there. Mrs. Harrison was still in Ohio packing and was not present to attend her husband’s service in Washington. John Tyler died at 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, January 18, 1862, at the age of 71 years and 295 days. He had been elected to the Confederate House of Representatives and was in Richmond to take the oath of office when he collapsed at a hotel at the southeast corner of Fourteenth and Franklin Streets and died at that hotel six days later. He received the first Confederate State funeral, lying in state at the

led me to begin collecting information about the deaths and funerals of presidents, and this has resulted in the opportunity to speak to numerous church groups, civic clubs, and historical societies and to teach courses on this subject for The Shepherd’s Center of Richmond, the University of Richmond andWilliam & Mary this coming fall. This article offers a fact or two about the deaths and funerals of the eight Presidents who were born in Virginia. The most difficult part of writing this is to limit myself to just one or two facts. Virginia not only is the Mother of Presidents; it is also the graveyard of Presidents. The graves or tombs of Virginia-born Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Tyler are in Virginia, as are the graves of Presidents Taft and Kennedy. President

It is the graveyard of Presidents. “ ”

William Henry Harrison is entombed in Ohio, President Taylor’s tomb is in Kentucky and President Wilson is interred in the nave of theWashington National Cathedral in Washington, D. C. No other State has the graves of more Presidents than Virginia. I could go on, but this is an article, not a book, so I will offer one or two relatively little-known facts about the deaths and funerals of our Virginia-born Presidents. George Washington died at 10:20 p.m. on Saturday, December 14, 1799, at the age of 67 years and 295 days. He died of strep throat; more accurately, he died from the treatment for that ailment. Nearly half of his blood was

extremely successful. It has changed the face of workforce training. The certification gets people good jobs, and they can do it in weeks rather than years.” Ruff’s service is not comparable to the price that the Bedford Boys paid, but the work he is doing is making life better for the community. As stories are shared, as struggles are understood, as sacrifice is recognized, communities are able to come together and progress is made. From the D-Day memorial to the workforce training program, Frank Ruff is impacting and being impacted by his community. Lydia Freeman is a teacher at KIPP ENC Public Schools in Gaston, North Carolina where she pushes sixth graders to think deeply and engage with historical, social and political spheres while practicing reading and writing. She writes often, engages deeply in conversation with friends, and strives to live purposefully in her community. Thomas Jefferson died at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4, 1826, at the age of 83 years and 82 days. He left detailed plans for a simple and quick burial that included an embargo on news of his death beyond the environs of Charlottesville until after his burial. The graveside service planned by this man, whose religious views continue to be debated, was to be straight from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer without anything else being said. The effort to The Bedford Boys from page 13 drained from his body and his digestive system was purged during a twelve-hour period. His handwritten Will stated that he was to be “interred in a private manner without parade or funeral oration.” He received a dawn-to-dusk open coffin public viewing, a 23-unit parade and four eulogies.

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B ERNIE H ENDERSON Chief Executive Officer Funeral Celebrant

1771 North Parham Road Richmond, Virginia 23229

Phone: (804) 545-7251 Bernard.Henderson@dignitymemorial.com

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