Undertakers and undertaking.

This collection contains five ledgers covering the history of John T. Dodd & Sons Undertakers. The first ledger is for John T.’s carpenter business it shows various building jobs but also numerous requests for coffins including from slaveowners for their slaves. The later ledgers show how the business moving away from carpentry and more to undertaking with fewer building jobs entered and more entries regarding the detail on the types of coffins made.

This collection contains photocopies of daybooks and ledgers for the Willis Wells Funeral Home in Chestertown, Maryland. Although they are primarily financial accounts, they still contain information on the decedent.