Well here is a page where I will try to explain the best I can on customs concerning burials, some information came from books and others by family members who gave me insight on the customs. My grandfather back in the day would make coffins for many folks in the area and was a carpenter of sorts, he also would work on the buildings within the area. Many ghost stories have had their start at old-time burials, wakes and graveyards, or walking past those old graveyards when back then the houses were sparse in the area would surely do it.
When a person died in the old days a bell was tolled generally it would ring out once for every year the person lived, then a neighbor was contacted to make the coffin. Then the deceased was washed and laid out to prepare for the wake, the wake would take place in the home of the deceased that night, which was also called "sittin' up" they did this at home because there was not many funeral homes in the area. The burial itself many said took place about two days after death, but in this area of Kentucky it seems that I have found that the deceased more than likely was buried the following day.
The deceased was prepared for burial rather quickly because after a period of time rigor mortise would set in and make it harder to clothe the body and get it prepared properly, they had to work fast before stiffness of the body set in along with swelling, because when that point was reached it would be very hard to do anything. They also would put silver coins over the eyes to keep them shut, a remedy of keeping the color longer so the deceased would not turn a dark hue was to use soda water rag to clean the face. Usually the men were dressed in white shirts and their Sunday best and the women were mostly dressed in black or white. And of course in those days they made their own clothes, one instance in particular was with my g-grandfather whose wife at the time of his death was Sarah, the men in the area offered to take care of him and prepare for the burial but Sarah insisted on doing it herself and she also shaved him and prepared him for burial herself. So from this we can learn that the wife did a lot of preparation also, but it would change from instance to instance.
Some casket makers charged a little just to cover the materials like the handles and the copper plate that went on the lid, I will add that a lot of coffins were made out of just plain ole lumber from my interviews I find that lumber was used a lot in the making of coffins, and the shape varied from just being square to being a little wider at the shoulders and narrow at the feet. The linings were generally stuffed with cotton and a white cloth over that, they made this lining from what they called plain white silk, they used small tacks to hold the lining in place and sometimes they used undressed lumber but most of the time it was dressed sometimes the coffins were given a bleaching for color, I will also mention that talking to different people on the lining some called it linen, some called it cane break.
By the time the coffin arrived at the home of the deceased the neighbors had gathered there with the family, and stay the night with them, they would also cook and bring food for the family in their time of grief back then neighbors were closer than they are today. They would sit up and sing songs and be there for the family members, the neighbors usually did everything during this time, if the corn needed hoeing they done that, take care of livestock whatever just to help out the family, generally at the day of the funeral they would take the deceased to the church and sing songs and everyone would view the deceased before leaving and if the kids were to little they would pick them up so they could see.
The digging and filling of the grave was usually done by closer members of the family or close friends and there would be plenty there to dig the grave, in other words plenty of kinfolk and friends would show up to help and after burial a lot of times family or friends would accompany the family of the deceased to their home and stay a few days, soon after that a tombstone was put up for the deceased a lot of times they used a big rock to mark the grave with, this making our job of genealogy a bit harder and some would use just a piece of would with an inscription and this makes our job harder to. I guess the way they looked at it then was the family knew and of course close friends who and where they were. On my talking with some old timers I have learned that back in the day as they say, people were all like one big family and helped one another.
One major thing lost today aside from of course neighbors and friends is this, when we now go to the funeral home most of what we see are flowers and more flowers what we have lost is the emphasis on the deceased themselves, in the old days more was thought of in the family and less put on flowers because that really should be were our priorities lie and that is with the family.