My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES BLOOD, now serving his fifth consecutive term as coroner of Chautauqua county and whose embalming board and fluid are used by the leading undertakers of the United States, was born in the city of October 30, 1835, and is a son of William and Harriet (Burpee) Blood. The Blood family is of Irish descent, and one branch of it settled in Vermont, where, of its descendants, one was William Blood, who was born in 1811. He removed in early life to Ottawa, Canada, where he resided for some years and afterwards in 1852 settled at Lockport, New York, which he made his place of residence until his death in 1876 at sixty-five years of age. He was a republican and in early life had met with the sad loss of his wife, who died in Ottawa in 1841. Mr. Blood was engaged during the greater part of his life in the manufacture of chairs in the cities of Ottawa, Canada, and Buffalo and Lockport, New York.

Charles Blood was reared, until he was six years of age, in Ottawa, when his parents removed to Buffalo, N. Y., where he resided until 1852, when he went with the family to Lockport, N. Y. At the latter place he learned the trade of upholsterer and in 1858 came to Dunkirk where he embarked in the furniture business, to which he added undertaking in 1866. His success as an undertaker and funeral director was so complete, that he soon disposed of his furniture business and has given his attention ever since to undertaking. A leading paper says:

“He is not only one of the leading undertakers of New York but is a thoroughly representative man of the most generous impulses and genial qualities.”

He is one of the nineteen undertakers who signed the call to organize the New York State Undertakers’ Association, which owes much of its effectiveness to his efforts. One of the most important events of Mr. Blood’s life is his invention and patenting of the “Folding Embalming Board.” It is undoubtedly one of the most convenient and scientific contrivances for handling the dead which has ever been introduced in the United States and has received the commendation of every undertaker who has examined it, as attested by the many flattering letters in the possession of its manufacturer. In addition to the invention of his popular embalming board, he has compounded an “Antiseptic Embalming Fluid,” which has met with marked success wherever it has been used. It is injected into the arterial circulation. These two inventions are not only sold in all parts of the United States but also in many foreign countries.

He is a republican in politics; has been elected five times as one of the coroners of Chautauqua county, and is a member of St. John’s Protestant Episcopal church. He is a Past Master of Irondequoit Lodge, No. 301, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Dunkirk Chapter, No. 191 Royal Arch Masons, Dunkirk Council, No. 26, Royal and Select Master’s and Dunkirk Commandery, No. 40, Knight Templars.

On November 30, 1860, he married Emily DeWitt, daughter of Alvin DeWitt of Dunkirk. They have two children: Thompson H. and Myrtle.

In speaking of Mr. Blood, a history of Dunkirk city pays him the following well merited tribute as a public official:

“One of the enterprising and successful citizens of this place is Charles Blood, who is serving on his fourth (now fifth) three years’ term as coroner, in which position he has made a very acceptable officer, his former promptness and efficiency causing him to be elected by a flattering vote.”

He has been the recipient of many favorable press notices, one of which said:

“For twenty-four years Mr. Blood has been a successful undertaker. His experience in this line is of great service to him as coroner and has enabled him to save an expense to the county in many ways. As an embalmer he has no superior and when the body of an unknown person has come under his charge, he has always embalmed the remains free of charge and kept them for several weeks, while he made every effort for their identification. Often friends from distant States have identified the remains from a photograph taken several days after the body had been embalmed.”

Charles Blood is a man of energy and business capacity, as is attested by the flourishing condition of his undertaking trade.