Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - April 14, 1985
By Susie Dewey
Vigo County Historical Society

Funeral invitation starts search of Matheny family's genealogy

An invitation to a funeral more than 150 years ago leads to an intriguing story.

The invitation is on display in the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St.

The hand-lettered invitation was carried from door to door so that friends and neighbors could attend the service for Estaline Rebecca McDowell Matheny on July 20, 1834, at 10:30 a.m. in the home of the deceased. At that date the coffin would have been custom-crafted at the local cabinet maker's establishment.

The invitation was a gift to the museum form Anna Jane Libbert, a member of the society and former Terre Haute resident now residing in Florida.

Research about the invitation began with a study of local documents. This was natural because the invitation is in a Terre Haute collection and was a gift from a local resident. But both suppositions proved false. Although specific information about the invitation is available, it is not known how the invitation came to Terre Haute. The local history department of the Vigo County Public Library contains the genealogies of many local families. Staff members quickly became involved in the search for Estaline Rebecca McDowell Matheny. The library has a folder on the Matheny family which contains only a few pages copied from the family Bible of James Matheny. The material was copied in 1953 and the whereabouts of the Bible are unknown today. The person who so carefully transcribed the Matheny records little recognized how valuable those few typed lines would become.

Estaline Rebecca McDowell Matheny departed this life on the 19th day of July 1834, after an illness of 96 hours. She was the fourth daughter of James M. and Catharine S. Matheny. Because embalming was very rare, if not non-existent in the early 19th century, the burial rites were scheduled for the next day, July 20, the date on the invitation.

Estaline Rebecca McDowell Matheny was born June 29, 1832, to James M. and Catharine S. Matheny in Lexington, Va. Because another child was born to the family in September 1834, in Lexington, it is logical to assume that the funeral and burial were in Lexington. The journey of the Matheny family Bible and funeral invitation are not stated in either the records of the Bible or the acquisition card of the museum.

The hand-lettered invitation to the funeral of a 2-year old child in Lexington, Va., is evidence of the fearful child mortality rate of the early 19th century. The family tragedy reveals the customs of the age.

These customs evolved into printed invitations and newspaper obituaries. Home funerals became services at mortuaries. Embalming became first the custom and later legal requirement.

All may have changed, but the family Bible, the repository of the facts, joyful and sad, remains the best and perhaps only record of a little girl's brief life and death.

The invitation to her funeral in the museum raised many more questions about her parents, brothers and sisters and other relatives.