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INDEX LIST OF FUNERAL HOMES & HISTORY
by Judith Florian with info from Bob Hummell, Funeral Home Owner & Director
The funeral industry first began in a two-fold manner. Firstly, most common folk lacked a wagon to carry a coffin, but these could be hired through the town's major Livery Businesses. Liveries kept a pair of black horses, which pulled the "hearse" for deceased males, while a pair of white horses were used for the services for deceased females. Slowly, horse-drawn funeral carriages were replaced by automobiles. Secondly, furniture stores always had wood for shelving, and people contracted the owner to create a coffin from the wood shelves, tack in material inside, and fashion a lid for the coffin. Readers will commonly see advertisements from "Furniture Maker & Undertaker" through the 1700 and 1800s. Over time, furniture / undertaker "stores" split, and funeral homes became separate from furniture businesses.
"Funeral Homes" often began in two ways: Families opened a funeral business in their own home's parlor (how the name "funeral parlor" came into being), and later bought a separate building, or families simply established a funeral business separate from or even attached to their private homes. Many local residences still exist in Washington Co PA that were once funeral homes. With the advent of automobiles, trucks, and panel trucks, some Funeral Homes were instrumental in beginning Ambulance Services in their community or county.
Funeral homes were very much family owned and managed businesses, often assumed by many generations over four decades or more. Many fathers and uncles taught their sons and nephews the ropes; wives and widows took ownership or managed the business when their husbands were at war, were ill, or had died.
Although many of the oldest funeral home names are now long forgotten, they can be found in old newspapers and obituaries. Sometimes, a local Funeral Director such as Robert Hummell, who has been in this business a long time, has knowledge about the changed ownership and names of funeral homes. On the next page, you'll find a list of old, closed funeral homes and previous owners from Mr. Hummell and those I found in histories on the Internet.
Old, closed Funeral Homes and Previous Owners
Current Funeral Homes, with ownership history
List of Funeral Home Obituary Notices for Deaths
10 Tips to Obtain Funeral Home Records
Where to Find Some Funeral Home Records
SEARCH - Try Drop Down Box for more options!
NEW SEARCH BOX ADDED Page added April 17, 2009 This is the Washington County PAGenWeb Genealogy Project
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2006, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Judith Ann Florian, all rights reserved. Website is
updated weekly or monthly, as I receive submissions or when I complete a
transcribing project. The materials (files) located on this website are the
property of the webmaster and the contributors. This material is for personal research. This Washington County PA website is a current member of
PAGenWeb and the USGenWeb.
Previous Copyright held by and the site design now used was created by the last county
coordinator, Christina Hunt. History of this website - The first PAGenWeb Washington County PA
coordinator was Jean Suplick Matuson [who also developed Chartiers.com].
Other county coordinators were Georgeann Malowney [who now hosts the Chartiers
site] and Peggy Tebbetts. Each coordinator has contributed much to
the preservation of Washington County genealogical information/history.