people seem to forget that not too long ago there were no funeral parlors....people would be laid out in the parlor of the home. I remember my Uncle Toby being laid out in the living room of his house...that was the first time I saw a dead person...people sent flowers etc...you visited the home and food was set up for people....sometimes it took a long time by horse and buggy to travel to the home, thus the reason for the food. My Uncle died in the 1940’s. People had cars but the tradition of food stayed. Usually now a days a restaurant was picked to feed the mourners..right after the funeral...
Historically this information was found by my aunt regarding one of our Revolution era relative. “Sarah Seachrist, the wife of Jacob and mother of thirteen children died in 1784, the coffin that was made was very large because of her generous size, they could not get it into the house, so for visitors it was placed in the front yard with her in it.”