P. G. Davis
The Old Coffin Maker

from "Southeast Corner of Tarrant County Before the Civil War"
by Sallie Hodges McKnight


At a time when caskets were unobtainable, burial was as elemental as death itself. There were no softly cushioned caskets, no hearse, no flowers, no concealing the hard clods that were to fall upon the coffin, no seats, no shelter from storm and rain. Of necessity, P. G. Davis, a skilled woodworker, met this common need and made coffins of pine which he skillfully covered by tacking black velvet over the outside of the frame. Mr. Davis was born in Blount County, Tennessee, and was as excellent a wheelwright as woodworker.

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