Daily AncestorUndertaker
An undertaker arranged funerals and burials, prepared the body and supplied the coffin; the word is an older name for a funeral director.
Before the trade existed, women in the family usually prepared the dead. In the late 1800s funeral work in the United States became a business run mostly by men, who embalmed and dressed the body, placed it in the casket and arranged the burial.
In 1895 a trade magazine sought a new name for the profession, and mortician won. The 1900 census instructions group janitor, sexton or undertaker together among service occupations.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1870 to 1940 census
Chas. Weber, 45, Undertaker
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Undertaker." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/undertaker. Last checked 2026-10-10.