A Brief History of Fisk’s Coffins

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Fisk’s iron coffins are fascinating artifacts of a time when the clash between new technology and religious
tradition was creating a spiritual crisis in the young country. They’re also a great example of how the
unintended effects of one invention can beget new and seemingly unrelated inventions and even new industries.
Iron coffins were created to mitigate some of the unforeseen negative effects that long-distance steam
transportation was having on traditionally sedentary communities.

The benefits of steam travel are as obvious as they are numerous; however, by the 1840s, downsides of the iron
horse and river boat had begun seeping into the most private corners of American life. One unintended
consequence of steam travel was its facility to enable unprecedented numbers of people to head out and
potentially die far from home. Prior to refrigeration or embalming, there was no practical way to return the
remains of a loved one home to be laid to rest among kin, and as a result, the deceased were often buried among
strangers by strangers. This situation was considered one of the most regrettable circumstances that could befall
a family during this profoundly spiritual period. A distant death denied family participation in funeral rituals
and the privilege of assisting in the commencement of the greatest spiritual journey one could make. On a
societal level, the absence of a funeral ceremony disrupted a central pattern of American life and weakened the
bonds of local communities.
With the news of his brother William’s death in Oxford, Mississippi, in the spring of 1844, this increasingly
common tragedy befell the family of Manhattan stove designer Almond Dunbar Fisk. The family deeply
lamented the impossibility of retrieving William’s remains for interment in the family plot in Chazy, New York,
on Lake Champlain; this reportedly hit their father, a minister,
especially hard. From that moment, Fisk was determined to
remedy the situation, and, uncannily, recognized that a
fundamental part of the solution lay within the problem.

Well versed in the principles and materials of airtight stoves

and boilers, the virtual heart and lungs of steam travel, he set
to work refashioning a furnace into an airtight coffin capable
of naturally preserving a body, which could be safely and
sanitarily transported over long distances or stored for lengthy
periods even in the hottest weather. In accordance with their
airtight design, preservation was achieved by making the
coffins as form-fitting to the body as possible, minimizing the
air inside and depriving the microbes of sufficient oxygen to
survive and decompose the body. Being air-tight, and thus
waterproof, the coffins were also heralded as a comfort to those envisioning their loved one’s remains infested
by vermin in the dark, sodden ground.

 Novelty Cooking Stove, NY Daily Tribune 6 Nov. 1843

Fisk & Raymond model circa 1850

Funerals, Fame and more Funerals

From the start, Fisk & Raymond had a shrewd business model targeting the
one group that not only had a built-in need for their products but could
afford them–the political elite, who typically had family burial plots in their
home towns and had no desire to spend eternity buried at the swampy U.S.
capital. The coffins were first displayed in the Capital’s Rotunda, where
they caught the eyes of their intended audience. Fisk & Raymond gained
national attention in July 1849 when the body of beloved former first lady
Dolley Madison was laid out in a metallic burial case for a public viewing in
D.C.  Soon, many other politicians and presidents followed suite, making
the coffins an item of status and prestige in the eyes of the growing middle
class.

 Fisk’s farm prior to the fire, outlined on Sidney’s Map of 12 Miles around
New York, 1849

Once introduced, it became clear that Fisk’s coffins also provided a way to
quarantine the remains of victims of contagious diseases, such as cholera,
while still allowing for a traditional funeral and viewing. In a time before
extensive use of photography, the coffin’s oval glass viewing window permitted next of kin and funeral
attendees to see the person’s face and confirm the identity of the occupant without encountering odor or
potential diseases. An additional selling point was as a deterrent to grave robbers, who sold corpses to medical
schools for dissection. This claim is a bit ironic because, while experimenting with coffin preservation
techniques, Fisk consulted with Drs. Valentine Mott and William Francis, both renowned New York surgeons
who perfected their dissection skills by practicing on plundered corpses. Mott was also an avid Egyptian
mummy collector and world traveler whose accounts of the tombs of the Nile may have inspired Fisk’s decision
to fashion his coffins after Egyptian sarcophaguses. 

New York Daily Tribune Oct. 13 1850

In 1845/6, the Fisk family moved from 70 Cliff Street in Manhattan to a large
farm in rural Queens, and Fisk began experimentation with a small foundry
furnace he built on the property. In 1846, he constructed a road across his
property to enable delivery of raw materials and finished products. For many
years, the thoroughfare was called Fisk Ave; today it is 69thStreet (there is
still a Fisk Ave stop on the number 7 subway line north of his property). He
received a patent for his ‘metallic burial case’ on November 14, 1848–just in
time for the California Gold Rush. Partnering with his father-in-law, Harvey
Raymond, a veteran in the shipping and foundry businesses, he formed the
company Fisk & Raymond and opened a showroom at 401 Broadway in
Manhattan. His stove shop at 209 Water Street, which continued to sell his
patented stoves and heaters, also became the coffin shipping depot (it still
stands as part of the South Street Seaport historical district). By 1850, Fisk
was producing 11 sizes of coffins, ranging from 2’4” for $6 to 6’6” for $25
for basic models, which for an additional cost, could be upgraded with a
fancier lining, gold bronzing and silver handles. Funeral Notice, New York
Weekly Herald Former First Lady Dolley Madison

The high-profile funeral rocketed Fisk & Raymond to overnight fame; however, Fisk’s days of glory were
tragically brief. In early September 1849, his small foundry was destroyed by a fire that consumed most of his
finished stock and tools. Scrambling to finance reconstruction, Fisk offered his patent as collateral for a
mortgage to Harvey’s wife’s brother-in-law, John G. Forbes, and fellow investor Horace White, both wealthy
business men from Syracuse, NY, heavily involved in railroads. Working to create cash flow while rebuilding,
Fisk & Raymond entered into a manufacturing licensing deal with Cincinnati stove manufacturer W.C. Davis &
Co., the precursor to the celebrated rival iron coffin manufacturer Crane & Breed and Co., established a few
years later. W.C. Davis began production, or at least had examples of the coffins, in time to enter and win a
prize in the Ohio State Agricultural Fair in October 1850.

1850 Cincinnati City Directory

Despite business deals and financial support, Fisk’s luck only worsened. On October 13, 1850, 13 months after
the fire, and less than two years after receiving his patent, Fisk died at age 32. The cause of death varies
depending on the source–some report he died from complications resulting from saving a young boy from
drowning in the East River, and the official
obituary description was chronic
inflammation of the lungs and bowels;
however, court records related to his wife
Phebe’s later claim to patent income, state
that his death was a result of an illness he
caught while fighting the fire. The fact that he
drafted his will on January 25, 1850, suggests
he had been ill enough in late 1849 to
consider his condition serious. Fisk died too
young, but not before achieving his goal.
Thanks to his genius, it was possible to ship
his body back to Chazy, where his father could conduct a funeral ceremony not afforded his brother six years
earlier.

Fisk monument and family plot at Riverside Cemetery in Chazy, NY

Fisk’s Iron Coffin Business Legacy

Immediately after the fire, Fisk & Raymond got to work rebuilding a much larger foundry on
the north end of the property. However, even before Fisk’s death, the company was unable to
pay off their debt to Forbes and White in time, which resulted in the foreclosure and
auctioning off of the foundry and farm. Forbes took possession of the coffin patent and
bought the properties. He subdivided the farm into what became parts of the hamlets of
Winfield Junction and Locust Grove. The foundry business was renamed WM Raymond &
Co., named after Harvey’s son and Fisk’s brother-in-law, William Raymond, who had been a
part of the company since at least 1847. William was never the president of the company that
bore his name; however, the business thrived under his day-to-day management for the next
27 years. Expanding over the years, the company provided coffins to several more presidents
and congressmen, including Abraham Lincoln and his son Willie. In 1873, the company was renamed W.M.
Raymond Manufacturing company–a change that represented an expansion of cast iron products, including
parts for Singer sewing machines and possibly hearses. William retired in 1877 and the company was renamed
the Metallic Burial Case Company; it provided caskets to the late President Garfield and King Alfonzo of Spain.
The foundry closed in 1889. Although by then the iron coffin industry was in serious decline, metallic cases
were still used by the military to transport those dead of contagion; however, by-and-large, the public had
moved on to sheet-metal caskets similar to what we use today. Coffin ad. Circa 1875
 

References
Allen, D. S. IV, 2002. The mason coffins: metallic burial cases in the central south.  In: the 45thSOUTH
CENTRAL HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE, 2002, Jackson, Mississippi.
http:/www.uark.edu/campus-resources/archinfo/SCHACmason.pdf.

Farrell, J. J., 1980. Inventing the American Way of Death 1830-1920

Temple University Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. p.3-99.

Fisk 1848, Improvement in Coffins, Letter Patent No. 5,920, Dated November 14, 1848, United States Patent
Office, Washington D.C.

Fisk & Raymond, 1850. Fisk’s patent metallic burial cases, airtight and indestructible, for protecting and
preserving the dead, for ordinary interment, for vaults, for transportation, or for any other desirable
purpose.Printed by Robert Craighead. New York, February 1850.

Forbes, John G., 1850. Indenture for farm property made Sept. 10, 1850, Deed L85P154, Queens County
Clerk’s office, Queens, New York

Forbes, John G. and White, Horace, 1849. Deed L85 P154, Liber 54 page 432. Date of instrument Sept. 10,
1849, Queens County Clerk’s office, New York.

Habenstein, R.W. & W.M. Lamers, 1956. The History of American Funeral Directing.  National Funeral
Directors Association. Bulfin Printers. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. P.251-310

Laderman, G., 1996. The Sacred Remains: American Attitudes Toward Death, 1799-1883. Yale University
Press. P.1-85.
Little, B. J.; Lanphear, K. M. & Owsley, D. W. 1992. Mortuary Display and Status in a Nineteenth-Century
Anglo-American Cemetery in Manassas, Virginia.  American Antiquity57(3):397-418.

Pierce, F. C., 1896. Fiske and Fisk Family:  Being the record of the descendant of Symond Fiske. Lord of
the manor of Stadhaugh, Suffolk County England. From the time of Henry IV to date, including all
American members of the family. Press of W. B. Conkey Company, Chicago Ill. Cornell University Library
CS71 .F54

Raymond, W. M.
1847 Foundry property deed transfer,Deed L76 P421, Date of Instrument Oct 3 1847
1866 W.M. Raymond and Co. Catalog. New York
1870 W. M. Raymond and Co. Brochure. New York

Rodes, C. R., 1852. The New York City Directory, for 1851-1852, Charles Rode Publisher, New York City,
New York.

Scott, R. & Hull-Walski, D.,2007. Early Metallic Coffins and Production Foundries.  In: THE
40NDANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR HISTORICAL AND UNDERWATER
ARCHAEOLOGY. Williamsburg, Virginia.

Seyfried, VincentF. 1995, Elmhurst: From Town Seat to Mega-Suburb, Queens Community Series, New
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