On this day in 1838, House members held a funeral service in the old House chamber, now Statuary Hall, for two-term Rep. Joab Lawler of Alabama. Lawler had died unexpectedly on the previous day at age 41. The House adjourned out of respect for the deceased colleague after informing the Senate of his passing.
Funerals for 15 members were held in the chamber while the House met there between 1819 and 1857. The first came on Dec. 18, 1820, for Rep. Nathaniel Hazard of Rhode Island, who had died the day before. Three days later, a funeral was held there for Rep. Jesse Slocumb of North Carolina, who had died on Dec. 20.
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Four such funerals were held there during that Congress, which ended in 1821. In all, 31 funerals of members have been held either in what is now Statuary Hall or in the current chamber.
At Hazard’s passing, the House initiated the practice of naming a seven-member committee to supervise funeral arrangements. Another House resolution called for the observance of a 30-day mourning period during which members wore black crepe armbands.
During the early 19th century, most members were buried in the Congressional Cemetery, a 30-acre plot set aside in 1807 near the west bank of the Anacostia River. Reps. Hazard and Lawler are among the members buried there.
Several months after Lawler’s death, George Crabb of Tuscaloosa, Ala., won a special election to succeed him.
No funerals have been held in the House chamber since final rites were observed there for Speaker William Bankhead (D-Ala.), who died in office on Sept. 15, 1940.
U.S. flags are flown at half-staff on the day a member of Congress dies and on the following day.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE HOUSE HISTORIAN AND THE CLERK OF THE HOUSE’S OFFICE OF ART AND ARCHIVES