Nov 19, 2018 2 min read

LeMoyne daughters’ hair wreath

In the Victorian Era death was celebrated through a series of different rituals. Obituaries as we know them today were uncommon until the second half of the 1900s. Newspapers were expensive to produce, and so deaths were usually just short notices, unless the deceased was a notable person. With the start of the Civil War, death notices became more detailed. As technology advanced, obituaries began to take the form that we know today because the papers were able to print more content for less money.

Until obituaries became more common, there were several other rituals adopted to honor the death of a loved one. The Washington County Historical Society has a large collection of hair, including individual locks and hair woven into different art forms. One of the most interesting pieces of hair-related ephemera in the collection is the LeMoyne hair wreath. The wreath is composed of flower-shaped broaches connected into a wreath shape. It is made from the hair of the five LeMoyne daughters, Charlotte, Romaine, Anne, Nancy and Madeleine, and their mother, Madelaine.

Katie West is the former curator of the Washington County Historical Society.