Dearly Departed: Piety and Community in the Stanstead Journal’s Obituaries and Death Notices, 1850–1900

Abstract

This research note is based on a small-town Quebec borderland newspaper’s death notices and obituaries published during the last half of the nineteenth century. The number of death notices in the sample years increased until 1880, after which there was a sharp decrease, reflecting a decline in infant and early childhood mortality. As for the obituaries, which were much fewer in number, there was a distinct gender divide within the messages conveyed. Those for men generally focused on their commitment to family and their neighbourliness, while those for women tended to stress their charitableness as well as their martyr-like suffering in their final days. In contrast to urban American obituaries, there was little change in the heavily religious tone until as late as 1890, nor was there any reference made to nation-building patriotism.