I would like to say thank you to Jonathan Feist for sending this information and image. Jonathan writes:

"My great-grandmother Sophia Feist sent a "mourning shield" for his funeral, presumably when the funeral train passed through NYC, where she lived. She received this letter of reply."


----"Courtesy of Lee Feist" (my father, and the document's owner).

Thanks again, Jonathan!

First time I ever heard the term "Mourning Shield".....in the 18th and 19th Century (as well as further back to the 16th and 17th centuries) there was such a thing as a "Funeral Hatchment" - (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funerary_hatchment)

I worked as a tour guide/docent at Shirley Plantation years ago, and they own and have on display two of these which have been in the family for centuries. It is typically a British tradition and usually depicts the family coat of arms. They are also predominately hung on the wall. The "Mourning Shield" may be a smaller variation of this....Fascinating! Thank you for posting this.

   

I had never heard of a Mourning Shield.

Thanks for sharing that with us.

Just goes to show that I am right when I say, "The more I learn, the less I know."

Bob

I had had heard of it either. Do any of them exist somewhere in a museum maybe?

The Hill family of Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, descendants of Robert "King" Carter, as well as the mother of Robert E. Lee, own two of these funeral hatchments. They are quite large and hang on the wall in their entrance hall. They have been in their family since the 17th Century.

Could these be similar to the funeral palls that are placed on coffins by priests (at least in the Catholic and Episcopal churches) as the funeral procession to the altar begins? I thought the purpose of palls was to show that all men are equal under God and, therefore, reduce the pomp of fancy coffins, etc. Could these hatchments or shields have been forerunners (showing the prestige of the deceased) and, therefore, have caused the introduction of palls?? Just a wild guess - I'm good at those.

(04-16-2015 06:07 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Could these be similar to the funeral palls that are placed on coffins by priests (at least in the Catholic and Episcopal churches) as the funeral procession to the altar begins? I thought the purpose of palls was to show that all men are equal under God and, therefore, reduce the pomp of fancy coffins, etc. Could these hatchments or shields have been forerunners (showing the prestige of the deceased) and, therefore, have caused the introduction of palls?? Just a wild guess - I'm good at those.

I just found two references to Mourning Shields, and both pertain to police badges or other similar items marked with a mourning band. I wonder if this family piece was originally such a thing that the family parted with in honor of Lincoln? Again, just a guess.