In the late 1800s, funeral rites were quite different from today. At the time, it was customary for the body to be exhibited in the deceased’s home, so there was no funeral center or embalming. Emery Gravel, then a worker and wheelwright, was already making coffins and horse hearses when he decided, in 1894, to enter the funeral business. As an entrepreneur, his role was to dress and make up the body upon death, decorate the house for the exhibition and then bring the casket to the funeral with the horse-drawn hearse.
Rodrigue Gravel, grandson of the founder and former owner, explains that at the beginning, the exhibition took place in just one day. “The exhibition lasted 24 hours and people came to pray there every hour. Since at the time, the bodies were not embalmed and it took place at home, it was necessary to act quickly before the first signs of decomposition of the body. This is why the exhibition lasted 24 hours and that the next morning was the start of the funeral, ”he says.
For several years, the Emery Gravel company is going well and in 1931, his son Jean-Marie starts working with him. In 1937, the first embalming techniques were taught in the region and Jean-Marie then became the first embalmer at Maison Emery Gravel. Two years later, body preservation methods are becoming very popular and almost everyone is now using them. At the same time, the first motor vehicles made their appearance and the first ambulances served as hearses.
