11 Fascinating Facts About The Father of Embalming

One of the very first things a mortuary student learns when embarking on embalming training is the name of the father of embalming, Dr. Thomas Holmes — and for good reason. Although he was not the first person to experiment with various body preservation techniques, he popularized arterial embalming during the American Civil War by developing and applying an arsenic-based solution to preserve soldiers’ bodies for transport home. His work changed mortuary practices and laid the foundation for the modern funeral industry.

These distinctions are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the life and times of Dr. Thomas Holmes. Through first-hand newspaper reports, we’ve uncovered 11 more fun and fascinating facts about the father of embalming, listed here in no particular order:

1. He did not want to be embalmed

When Holmes died on January 8, 1900 at age 83 after “an illness of more than two years,” the headline of his New York Tribune death notice was “Dead Embalmer Wants No Embalming.” The notice added that this “last wish” was in spite of Holmes’ status as the father of embalming and the fact that he had embalmed “about a thousand bodies” (or 28,400 soldiers” as another outlet reported in 1900).

2. He made very little money from his accomplishments, and died a “poor man.”

In 1901, a Washington Post reporter wrote about his 1896 visit to Holmes’ home, saying, “He was living at that time in great poverty, in the miserable little frame hut on Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn where he died.” Another article claimed that while practicing as a physician in New York prior to the Civil War, Holmes purchased property (including the Marcy Avenue lot) that was “at one time said to be worth $100,000.” It is thought that he lost his fortune after committing to his embalming research… as seen in the next item.

3. He once spent $17,000 on beef

After Holmes’ death, it was reported that “at one time he thought that he could preserve fresh beef and purchased for the purposes of experimentation an entire cargo of beeves from Texas. By this purchase the doctor lost nearly $17,000, because the beef all had to be destroyed.”

4. The method he used to embalm Lincoln was amazingly effective, but secret

When the body of Abraham Lincoln was exhumed in 1901 for the purpose of reinterment in a tomb, his body was “found to be in a most excellent state of preservation” thanks to his embalmer, Dr. Thomas Holmes. The exact process Holmes used to embalm Lincoln, though, is still a secret, although journalists wrote that it was a “radical departure from the ordinary mode of embalming by means of fluids.” Instead, Holmes “placed the body in a glass case and subjected it to pressure of a peculiar gas, the action of which hardened the flesh to a degree approaching the toughness of leather.”

5. He secured several patents throughout his lifetime.

Holmes’ patents include:

• Apparatus for Filling Blood-Vessels of Dead Bodies (1861)
• Elastic and Deodorizing Receptacle for Dead Bodies (1863)
• Deodorizing Coffin (1864)
• Improvement in the Process of Preserving Dead Bodies (1877)
• Embalming Syringe (1890)
• Embalming Mixture (1891)

6. Holmes became known for displaying some odd things in his storefront windows.

Supposedly to promote his embalming services, for many years Holmes posted to his storefront a plaque listing the names of prominent Union soldiers he had embalmed during the Civil War. He is also said to have kept an embalmed dog in a glass case in his front window for several years, which “began to excite the curiosity of children going to school.”

7. In his mid-70s, Holmes was committed to a mental asylum for “dementia.”

In 1896, after a “little family difficulty,” Holmes spent two weeks as a mental patient at Flatbush Hospital in Brooklyn, where “insanity experts” examined him and determined he had developed a “slight attack of dementia.” After a few days these doctors declared that the “cause of the attack had disappeared.” After his discharge, he told a reporter that he was “contemplating taking a trip to Key West, with a view to embalming bodies of those killed in the Cuban-Spanish war.” He also said he hoped to “conduct some of his experiments” at the Flatbush facility. 

8. Holmes was sometimes on the wrong side of the law

The aforementioned “family difficulty” that led to Holmes’ very short stay was a little more complicated than the previous article let on. His relatives requested that he be committed after he “made an unsuccessful attempt to kill his wife” with a revolver he had begun keeping by his side, barricaded himself behind a door with an axe in his hand and threatened to kill anyone trying to enter his house. This activity was presumed to have stemmed from his bank foreclosing on his mortgages and his brother-in-law being appointed manager of his estate and his subsequent threat to commit suicide by poisoning himself near his vault in Cypress Hill Cemetery so “it won’t be much work to get me inside.” This situation ultimately resulted in his arrest for … intoxication. The prior year, Holmes was arrested for “keeping a body on his premises for more than two months.” He was released when authorities confirmed that he had obtained the body from Bellevue hospital for “scientific purposes.”

9. His last major embalming experiment was a “new petrifying scheme” involving “the antiseptic gas process.”

From the late 1880s until his sharing of a “petrified arm” in 1895, Holmes worked to perfect an embalming method that would eliminate “danger from contagion” and use materials that could be easily and  cheaply manufactured and accessed. 

10. Authorities found various human and animal body parts in Holmes’ home after his death.

Eleven months after Holmes died in his home, police, “through the board of health” finally removed the specimens stored in his basement morgue. They found: “The mummified body of a male child, apparently 11 years old, with head, shoulders and arms missing. Had evidently been severed from the body with a saw and as hard as wood. […] The body was mummified to such an extent that a crosscut saw went through it like pine wood. […] The body was sawed across the bottom and then between the legs and spine […] With these remains were those of three other children. There was also removed from the place at the time two mummified bodies of monkeys and one head of a monkey.” Even more than a decade after his death, as authorities were demolishing the structure, excavators came across several “petrified toes.”

11. Holmes had several side gigs.

Although perfecting the embalming process was Holmes’ lifelong pursuit, he also dabbled in other businesses and inventions. One blogger wrote, “According to Mary Roach and her excellent book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers,  Dr. Holmes tried different ventures including opening a drugstore, running a health spa, and launching a root-beer business.” He is also said to have placed ads in “mortuary trade journals with his latest invention:  a canvas body bag that could also double as a sleeping bag.” And in 1895, he told a reporter that he was “about to organize a company for the manufacture of glass caskets lighted by electricity, by which the living can view the faces of their dead friends.”

In our earliest years on Earth, we are taught about Father’s Day, and it’s usually our mothers who teach us about the process of honoring our fathers on the third Sunday in June as their special day. They may share a favorite Bible verse as they teach us, with the 5

th

commandment, the scripture from Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

To a youngster, “Honoring” means creating something you can do at your age, with your ability, as dedicating hours of effort to think about your dad as you are doing it. First crayon drawings, early cards signed with scribbles, these are the kinds of treasures that you may well find saved by your dad for the next 30+ years of your life. Sometimes families pose for photographs that mark the occasion each year and the story they tell through the years shows differences in hair styles, clothing, cars, and the times in general, ways to mark the passage of years and growth of children into younger versions of dad’s best qualities.

I never realized it until I became a father myself that the operative word in being a dad is “responsibility,” in a way that had gone over my head for years. When you bring a child into this world, you essentially want to give them everything and anything you may remember not having. And then that feeling passes as you calm down and realize that the greatest gift of all is time.

When you are there to see your son or daughter’s first step, first pulling up to be able to stand on self-balance, hear their first word, or see their very first smile, there is no prize or treasure in this world greater than that. You never want your child to fall, skin their knee, or break a bone in their body, even though it’s an evitable part of life that happens to everyone. Yet, you still want to cushion them with bubble wrap, and you would if you could. When it feels right, you teach them your faith and help develop their spirituality and get them to Sunday School to learn about God’s love and what it means to have a heavenly father.

Responsibility means teaching your child what is expected of them at each stage of their life. Be kind, tell the truth, help other people, say thank you, write notes to say thank you, visit your family and check in on them, especially if they are elderly or have been sick. How you talk to your family, friends and neighbors is a model for your child to observe and emulate.

How to change a tire, how to fix something around the house, how to put up a bird house, all are just simple things that we do because we want to show a child how to master the unknown or something that can be a challenge. We impart courage to them as we model how to not be afraid of thunder, lightning, the dark, and other things that can scare a child. The language we use, the tone of voice we take when we are happy and when we are not, the thoughtfulness by which we plan ahead for others all represent behavior that our children see. Not a word needs to be spoken because actions speak volumes.

When a father is absent from a family for reasons other than a job taking them away from home, children look to others to fill their time, their loyalty, and their interest. Fortunately, many men are in this world who fill the “just like dad” role. As adults we call them “mentors” or “senior friends” who take you under their wings, offering advice or just a listening ear. That also comes down to “time” that is offered and given freely. We remember these men on this day, too.

Grandfathers, godfathers, uncles, and older brothers also are likely to step in and help children grow up and have a sense of someone “having their backs” as we sometimes say. Having an advocate is the most important thing for a child who is learning about life, at any age. Whether they pick you up and dust you off if you fall, whether they drive you to practice or pitch a baseball or catch one you are hitting, whether they make sure you’re at a dance recital on time, or there to scrutinize a “gentleman caller” and know that that young man is accountable to them, it’s a father figure who holds their hand in the air to say “I am here for you. Count on me. I’m where you need me to be.” And for the rest of your life, you will remember this day and think of someone who is there now, or who was once there.

I lost my own father at an early age and fortunately, he was the kind of father who always let me know every day of his life how much he loved me and what being my dad meant to him. I look at my son every day and want him to feel that same security that I felt growing up. Although I entered the profession my family had been in for four generations before me, my father was perfectly happy for me to follow whatever dreams I had, and he was all about them for me.

My dad did not insist his dreams for me interfere for my own dreams I had for myself. I intend to model this for Rowen as well. Together with Chelsea, Rowen has given me a true sense of family and clearly identified my role in it. Every year at this time, I think of the wisdom of my father, the miles he put on our station wagon (together with my mom) as we traveled the state for soccer tournaments, because I loved doing it, and I’m humbled. I’m excited to be a dad and because Rowen is almost 2, he is closer to understanding what Father’s Day is all about, because without him I would not have this title that I love with all my heart—Dad.

To all of you who are fathers, you have my great respect and thanks for all you do; for those of you who are father-figures for children, you have my appreciation and admiration for stepping in and stepping up to be there when you are most needed; for family members who take on the role of father to their relatives, my great respect is due you as well. Individually, we may not know all the answers we need to in this lifetime, but together we can find our way to make life better for our children as best we can. Love is the answer, and time is the best present of all. To all who are missing their dads this year, close your eyes and think about your happiest memory together with your dad, and remember that love never dies and memories live forever. Happy Father’s Day!

Cody D. Jones ‘02

Owner & Community Member