In February 2002, Bill Neel (a CAA member in Oregon) obtained a hearse built in 1854. It was made by Samuel Conners of Lowell, Massachusetts, and, much more recently, restored by Morgan Carriage Works in Ojai, California.
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(photo courtesy of Bill Neel)
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This vehicle is considered a “country” hearse; it is not cut under and has no elaborate urns or other decoration. It saw service during the Civil War, was sent to eastern Canada, and then returned to the U.S. in 1998. The Neels have taken the vehicle to shows (winning a number of awards with it), driven it in parades (as in the photo above), and used it for funerals.
Over the years, the Neels added a variety of ingredients to their basic lineup of hearse and four mules with funeral nets and black plumes. Eventually, their show “entry” included a preacher, a riderless horse, a bugler, and a “widow” and “mother,” all lead by a piper. Bill decided that, to complete the ensemble, he would need a family coach and a pallbearers’ coach. And so the search began.
Bill first found this Studebaker Rockaway to serve as the “family coach.”
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(photo courtesy of Bill Neel)
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Then, just this year, Bill finally found a suitable “pallbearers’ coach” in New Jersey. He’s recently purchased the vehicle and had it shipped to Oregon, where it resides in the carriage house at his Copper Windmill Ranch.
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photo courtesy of Bill Neel
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photo courtesy of Bill Neel
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This particular vehicle was made by the Geneva Wagon Company in Geneva, New York. You can see a picture of it here, from the company’s 1906 catalog.
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The Slower Road 