Daily AncestorEmbalmer
An embalmer preserved dead bodies with chemicals so they could be viewed at a funeral or carried home for burial, a trade that grew in the U.S. during the Civil War.
Embalming became more common in the United States during the Civil War, when soldiers often died far from home. Abraham Lincoln was embalmed after his assassination in 1865, and the journey of his body home for burial drew wide public attention to the practice.
The goals were sanitizing, presenting and preserving the body. Today the embalmer's title in the United States depends on the state that licenses the work.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1940 census
Geo. Dill, 41, Embalmer
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Embalmer." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/embalmer. Last checked 2026-10-10.