JACKSONVILLE, OR – The Victorians created elaborate rituals around the passing of a loved one. Death was considered part of life’s texture, giving it essential meaning. Explore how Jacksonville’s most prominent pioneer family honored the dearly departed in the late 1800s when Historic Jacksonville, Inc. opens the 1870s Beekman House Museum between 12n and 3pm on two weekends—October 3 and 4 and October 10 and 11.
The historic Beekman House, located at 470 E. California Street in Jacksonville, will be decorated as a Victorian home in mourning. A funeral invitation and Victorian casket in the house parlor will recreate the sense of a home funeral of the era. Mirrors will be draped in black, clocks stopped, and photos of the deceased turned to the wall. Victorian mourning fashions will be on display along with hair jewelry and artwork on loan from the Southern Oregon Historical Society.
One-hour docent led tours beginning every 20 minutes will share proper Victorian mourning etiquette for home décor, clothing, funerals, and social behavior as well as superstitions, séances, mementos, and a few popular practices of the time that we would find bizarre today. Tour admission is $10, and tour size is capped. Reservations are encouraged. Tickets and additional information can be found at https://www.historicjacksonville.org/victorian-theme-tours/. “Walk ups” will be accommodated on a “space available” basis. All proceeds go towards preserving and sharing Jacksonville’s history.
For the Victorians, death was an integral part of life. Despite all the medical and technological advances of the Victorian era, people were still very much surrounded by death. Infant mortality was incredibly high while life expectancy, especially in some major cities, was frightfully low. Most people died in their homes, and most funerals were held at home. Both Cornelius and Julia Beekman died in the Beekman House, and their daughter Carrie was at their sides as they declined and passed. Their younger daughter, Lydia, had died in 1873, shortly after the house was completed.
From humble beginnings as an express rider carrying mail, packages, and gold over the Siskiyous to Yreka, Cornelius C. Beekman built a business empire of banking, insurance, mining, and real estate interests. The Beekmans were the only ones to occupy the family home, and all the contents are family possessions accumulated over their 60+ years’ occupancy.
