John, Perhaps your ancestor had many friends in Lancaster who wished to pay him a fond farewell, hence the service at the train station...it would have saved them the trip to Oxford. Regarding the use of the train station, I have something that's not completely different: "Upon his death in 1882 after a long illness, his remains were carried by a special W&N Railroad train to the Geigertown siding, where he was buried at St. Paul's Cemetery..." Of course in the above account it's not really clear if there was an actual viewing or funeral in the train car. From what I know, at this point in time (at least in Western PA) tradition was to hold the viewing at the family home of the deceased (a practice in one line of my family up through the 1960's!). Perhaps no one in Lancaster could host the coffin, hence the service at the station? Of course this is just my theory; perhaps someone with historical knowledge can shed some facts on this type of situation? Sharon : -----Original Message----- : From: John Vail [mailto:jvail@brandywine.net] : Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2000 7:29 AM : To: PACHESTE-L@rootsweb.com : Subject: [PACHESTE] funeral at train station : : : W hile searching our family line, Burger, I found a newspaper : clipping that said funeral at train station, burial in Lancaster, : 1895 was the year. Was it a usual thing to have services like : this at a train station, I do not believe he was connected to the : railroad,he died in Oxford, Chester Co, any ideas : pat : : : ==== PACHESTE Mailing List ==== : Stop by our associated website for Chester County Genealogy at : http://www.rootsweb.com/~pacheste/chester.htm : : : :