Monday, July 05, 2010

Linda Broday: Undertaking the Old West Way

I have the coolest friends! Linda Broday is a good friend and a special lady. She has generously provided this great material on the history of undertaking.

Undertaking on the frontier was a crucial business. After all, life expectancy was only 37 years of age. So lots of folks were dying and they needed someone to take care of the nasty business of death.

Funeral customs depended on whether the deceased was a city dweller or one who lived on a farm or ranch. People who lived outside of town placed the care of their remains in the hands of those who loved them. After a loved one died, the family lovingly washed their bodies and dressed him or her in their best clothes. Sometimes they made their own coffins if they had the tools. If not, they’d buy a coffin from the undertaker in town. They’d lay the person out in their parlor at home and sit beside the coffin. They called this custom a wake. Then, after no more than a day or two, they’d bury the deceased in a plot on their land.

(Embalming was unheard of until the early 1900’s and even then it was mostly back East. That’s why they had to hurry and get the dead into the ground. They got pretty ripe after a while.)

If the deceased lived in town, all the needs were seen to by the undertaker who usually had side occupations like furniture or cabinet maker. Hearses were horse-drawn and most of the time ornate with glass windows on each side through which viewers could see the coffin. Some even sported black feathery plumes at each corner. The mourners walked on foot behind the hearse to the cemetery which was generally near the church.

The heroine in my novella called UNDERTAKING TEXAS in the newest anthology “Give Me a Texas Ranger” (with Jodi Thomas, Phyliss Miranda, DeWanna Pace and myself) is the town’s undertaker, dentist and barber. Texanna Wilder took over the businesses after her husband, Sam, was gunned down. My story takes place a year after she buried her husband. Texanna and her son are having a very difficult time of things. Her odious step-brother-in-law is making life miserable and threatening to take her business from her if she doesn’t marry him.

Then in rides Texas Ranger Stoney Burke. Stoney was Texanna’s husband’s best friend. Stoney promised Sam on his wedding day that he’d look after Texanna if anything happened to Sam.

When Texanna and Stoney are thrust together, he’s forced to face his deep feelings for Texanna. On the one hand, he’s mad as all get-out at her for making Sam give up his job with the Texas Rangers. But on the other hand, Stoney has worshipped Texanna from afar all these years. Memories of her and the kisses they shared long ago keep him awake at night.


There’s also the matter of dealing with Texanna’s six year old son who’s developed a bad habit of stealing, a jail break, and a fire that consumes the town.

Locked in a fight to keep Texanna safe, Stoney comes to see that old grudges have no place in the future and that love can survive past secrets if only he gives it a chance.

GIVE ME A TEXAS RANGER is in bookstores now. I hope you’ll pick up a copy. If you read our two previous anthologies, GIVE ME A COWBOY and GIVE ME A TEXAN, you’ll need this one to add to your set.

Come on in and put your two cents in. I’d love to hear from you.



Order your copy from amazon

Linda is an award winning author who lives on the Western plains of Texas that’s sometimes referred to as the short grass prairie. She has three single western romances and three anthologies to her credit. She’s won the prestigious National Readers’ Choice Award and the Texas Gold among many others. Writing western romance is in her blood. She loves nothing better than to saddle up with a cowboy hero and help him lasso the love of his life. You can contact her at http://www.lindabroday.com/.

19 comments:

  1. Morning ladies.
    Happy Fourth of July Monday Holiday.

    Is that an official title I wonder?

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  2. Linda, I really enjoyed your story and know you did a lot of research on undertaking. Great post. Someone told me, and dang it may have been you, that the undertakers got the name because they put out signs that said that they'd "undertake" any job just to work. Is that true?

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  3. Mary, I love that title. We (Linda, DeWanna, Jodi and I) are doing a Christmas collection and a Valentine's collection, so why propose a 4th of July one? Good title ... can we borrow? LOL Great site, Cheryl!

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  4. Dang it sorry ...why not propose!!! I can't put two words together this morning obviously.

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  5. Mary, you always come up with something that makes me laugh or at the very least brings a big smile. Thanks for the Happy Fourth wishes. Hope yours is the best one ever.

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  6. Phyliss, thanks so much for taking time to comment. I know how full your plate is. Hope you make lots of progress today with your WIP. I don't think you heard that about how the undertaker got his name from me. I didn't find that in my research, but that's not to say that it could be true. Now, you've got me thinking and I'm going to have to see if I can look that up. People in the West had to undertake many jobs since there were so few people.

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  7. Mary, our GIVE ME A COWBOY anthology was set during a fourth of July weekend. We loved that setting and the rodeo they had.

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  8. Hi Linda - great info on undertaking and I love the concept of your story. Sounds like a whole lot of good stuff happens. I ordered a Kindle for my birthday and hope to download your book as one of the first ones I get!!

    Btw-- the link for your site doesn't seem to be working. I tried it twice.

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  9. The link to my website isn't correct. It should be www.LindaBroday.com

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  10. You were so right, Charlene. I fixed the link - thank you!

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  11. Charlene, thank you for coming over on a holiday to comment. Bless you! I'm glad you liked the concept for my story. I had a great time writing it. The characters really sprang from the page. I hope you like this new anthology. And a belated happy birthday! Good for you to treat yourself to a Kindle. I hear those are really neat. You'll have to let me know how you like it.

    And thanks for pointing out the incorrect link to my website. Hopefully, Cheryl can fix that in a minute.

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  12. Thanks for fixing the link, Cheryl! I should've known you'd be on the ball, my Filly sister.

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  13. What a terrific post, Linda. I love this information. And I'll be reading this momentarily: I had Give me a Texas Ranger pre-ordered and it magically appeared in my Kindle a few days ago LOL. I love these Give Me antho's. I love those cowboys. And after my recent trip to Bandera (the cowboy capital of the world) I love Texas!

    Best wishes for a ton of sales, and here's a toast to many more terrific stories from you. oxoxox

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  14. Tanya, what a neat surprise to suddenly have the book appear on your Kindle. It'd be like a birthday or Christmas gift. I do hope you'll like this new antho. And thanks for the compliment about the first two of these Give Me anthos. I'm so happy you liked the stories. I'm finding it great fun collaborating and writing with Jodi, Phyliss, and DeWanna.

    I think it's wonderful that you've fallen in love with Texas. Come back again soon, you hear!

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  15. Hi Linda,
    Excellent post and some great information. I love old western movies and still get a giggle out of how the undertakers are portrayed--from a fulltime specialist to the barber moonlighting for a little extra coin.

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  16. Tracy, thanks for dropping by on this holiday. I hope you had a good time celebrating. Bet the lake was breathtaking with fireworks going off.

    Yes, seems everyone had more than one job in the old west. They had to make a living the best they could I guess. I love to watch old westerns. That's what I cut my teeth on. They definitely led to my love of cowboys.

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  17. Linda! I LOVE the idea of the female undertaker. In my years as a chaplain at hospice and working with grief support, I've followed the change in customs associated with death and burial. I can't wait to get the book and see what's new! Hey, the cover is super sexy :-) hahaha. Terri Whitgrove

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  18. Hi Anonymous! (Wink, wink) So glad you could drop by. Hope you, hubby, and kids are having, or did have, a very nice Fourth of July. Hey, I'm going to be in WF on Saturday. Maybe you'd like to come to the Book Rack? I'd love to see you. And you could pick up a book then. Take care.

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  19. I love it when I learn something new about day to day life in the past. Thanks for an interesting article and best wishes for you and the other writers of 'Give me a Texas Ranger'.

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