Re: Burial Practices of Quakers

Dear Pamela:

Yes, Friends did generally bury their own in Quaker cemeteries - a holdover from 17th century UK practice. However, non-Friends were equally "welcome" in Friends burial grounds (the preferred term). There are usually two types: ones connected with a specific Monthly Meeting, and usually located immediately outside the meetinghouse, and small family plots in the corner of a field on the ancestral farmstead.

Friends do not worry about "sanctified" ground, considering all of the natural earth, since it was created by God, as holy. Friends have only one burial practice that you should be aware of - the practice of burying without tombstones off and on for the better part of the 17th and 18th centuries. The idea was that God knew where you were, as did your family, and all the rest is vanity. (But it makes it harder for genealogists, so use the very complete Quaker records whenever possible.)Friends still usually have very low, plain headstones with only their name, birth and death dates on it. Because of this, many passersby think these burial grounds are pet cemeteries.

We tend to want to do things as inexpensively as possible while conforming to state law. Many 20th century Friends have preferred cremation. Well into the 20th century, it was not unusual for a country burial to have an unembalmed body.

Friends have a memorial service which encourages individuals' participation, a celebration of the gifts God shared with us through that person's life, at any time which the family deisgnates. It can be as long as a year after the actual death. And the body of the deceased is usually NOT present, unless it is at a small rural Meeting were the grave is just outside the meetinghouse. Friends have never emphasized the physical body as part of the memorial service.

Don't know if these comments help you, but feel free to ask me further questions if you think I can help.

Thy friend,Nancy Webster
Curator, Friends Historial Association,USA and past clerk of Swarthmore MM, PA