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Funeral Homes & Their Records
A funeral home exists for just about every
relatively large-sized community in Kentucky, and depending on the policies of each business, some are very helpful
to genealogists, offering whatever aid privacy concerns and time constraints may
allow, while others charge exorbitant fees for any information. Some refuse
to be of any aid whatsoever.
While advice cannot be offered here with regards to
the policies of those funeral homes operating within Harrison County today, this is partly because Harrison County
genealogy research is greatly enhanced by
the fact that the funeral records of three funeral homes
that were in operation in the last decade of the 19th century and for most of
the 20th have been microfilmed and are available to the public at the
Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library. Indexes of those records have
been compiled, making the records even more accessible.
Funeral home records can be helpful in many
ways. They can include as much information as an obituary and a death
certificate combined, plus more. Indeed, some individual records do
contain copies of the actual obituary or death certificate, or both (Many obituaries are
based on the information provided by the funeral home). Out-of-state death
certificates and permits to allow the transport of the deceased to a Harrison
County cemetery can be a part of the record. Military
discharges might have been needed to obtain authorization for a military service
at the burial site or for a military grave marker, and so are included with some
record files.
Burial locations are also recorded. Next of kin and contacts, with names
and addresses are also a part of the record, along with details of all that was
a part of the service provided by the funeral home.
There are several ways in which the funeral
home records indexes can be especially helpful. First, the death dates
provided in the Whaley Funeral Home records for the early period of 1893 to 1911
help to overcome obstacles presented by the missing 1890 U.S. Census and the
fact that no vital records were maintained at the county or state level before
1911, except for brief periods from 1852 thru 1859 and 1874 thru 1878, plus the
U.S. Census Mortality Schedules of 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880.
The Historic Whaley Funeral Home
(James Saunders Whaley Collection)
Secondly, if your research subject should
have moved out of state (i.e., out of Kentucky) at sometime during his/her life,
a fact which might not be readily apparent or discoverable through the use of
other standard genealogical tools to be found locally in Kentucky, then the
funeral home indexes are especially helpful in determining when and where your
subject lived when they died. For instance, many people who have left the
county during their lives often are often returned to be buried on old family
plots in local family or church cemeteries of their hometowns or in larger
private or municipally owned cemeteries. Often the local funeral home will
be contacted to handle the arrangements and these indexes can help to find those who
may have left Kentucky at sometime during their life and who died in another state
or country. A death during military service abroad also would not
typically show up in statewide death indexes such as that for Kentucky.
If your research subject did not die in Kentucky,
the funeral home indexes can help to provide answers not found elsewhere. The
indexes also help when the Social Security
Death Index provides insufficient information regarding dates of death or fails to indicate
a proximate place of death.
Also, if your subject died out of state and
local cemetery burial records or grave marker transcriptions are lacking, then
the funeral home records index may help you uncover the final resting place of
the deceased.
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Samples of
Funeral Home
Records
The following
images should give you a representative view of the form and content of the
funeral home records of Smith-Rees and Whaley.
IMAGES
COMING
SOON!!!
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"Undertake"
to
Learn
A Little
Funeral Home
HISTORY
R.B. Whaley:
Funeral
Director
and Embalmer
The well known undertaking establishment of Mr. R.B. Whaley, now located
in the Masonic Building on Main Street, is the longest established
business of the kind in Cynthiana.
Mr. Whaley maintains an establishment complete in every respect,
including one of the finest funeral cars in the state, a stable of good
horses, necessary carriages, hearses, coffin wagon, lowering ap[p]aratus,
chairs, etc. The equipment is complete, and he keeps on hand a
large line of caskets in all styles, qualities and designs. Mr.
Whaley is a licensed embalmer whose proficiency in the art is generally
recognized. His outfit comprises those instruments approved by the
leading instructors of embalming, and his fluids, disinfectants and
deoderants [sic] are of standard make and recognized merit.
Enterprise is the watchword in this establishment, and this appears with
force and emphasis in volume of business, in magnitude and variety of
stock, in progressive methods, and in general satisfaction.
Mr. R.B. Whaley was born within five miles of Cynthiana, and first began
the undertaking business under Mr. Samuel Williams in 1883, continuing
with him for ten years. The firm of Renaker, Whaley & Hutchings
then succeeded Mr. Williams and did the largest business of the kind in
Cynthiana. After six years Mr. A.B. Renaker sold his interest to
the other two members of the firm in 1899.
In January, 1905, Mr. Whaley purchased the interest of Mr. R.E.
Hutchings and is now the sole proprietor of this large undertaking
business.
Mr. Oren Rankin and Mr. Fritz Grater are assistant undertakers in this
establishment.
Source: The
Cynthiana (Ky.) Log Cabin Souvenir Supplement, Saturday, Nov. 11,
1905, p. 30, cols. 1-2 (A
photograph labeled 'R.B. Whaley' accompanies this article on page 30,
column 2).
(A reprint of this issue is available for purchase from the
Cynthiana-Harrison County Museum).
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A Little More
Funeral Home
HISTORY
Officers of the
Smith-Rees Co.
The success of the Smith-Rees Company is due
largely to the business efficiency, good judgment and personal
popularity of H. Clay Smith, president and manager, and David R. Rees,
secretary-treasurer of the company, which was organized in its present
form in 1913, when D. Newt Rees became vice-president of the
organization and his son, David R. Rees, secretary-treasurer. The
personnel of the company includes Russell Whalen, John Hutsell[,]
book-keeper, Clarence McKinney[,] and Oak Ecklar, colored.
H. Clay Smith, president and manager of
the company, has been prominent in various business and civic
enterprises for a number of years. He was the first secretary of the
Cynthiana Business Men’s Club, and has since served as president and
director of that organization. He is president of the Cynthiana Hotel
company, a steward in the Cynthiana Methodist Church, member of the
Cynthiana Rotary Club, of the Cynthiana Board of Education[,] and
director of the Health and Welfare League. He is a Past Grand of
Cynthiana Lodge I.O.O.F. and Past Chancellor of the Cynthiana Lodge,
Knights of Pythias.
David R. Rees, secretary and treasurer of
the company became a licensed mortician in 1906 but retired from the
profession for four years to serve as deputy while his father, D.N.
Rees, was Sheriff of Harrison County. Mr. Rees has also been Coroner of
Harrison County since 1913. He is a member of the Chrisitan Church, the
Cynthiana Lodge K. of P., the Junior O.U.A.M. and the Cynthiana Business
Men’s Club. He has had a large part in building the successful business
of the Smith-Rees Co.
Source: The Cynthiana (Ky.) Democrat,
Thursday, March 28, 1930, Page 3, Cols. 1-4.
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All about the
Indexes
 This
index of 16,260 entries is based on several individual indexes which were
originally compiled to serve guides to the microfilmed records of two
historic Harrison County funeral homes, the Smith-Rees Funeral Home and the
Whaley Funeral Home. A consolidated index of
these individual indexes was transcribed and forms the base content of these
online indexes (A copy of the index has been printed and is also available for
examination in the
the
Christine Burgan Kentucky Room at the
Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library).
For the most part, the use of this index requires little explanation.
However, a few notes are in order.
The Smith-Rees and Whaley Funeral Homes -
The records of two of Cynthiana's historic funeral homes have been microfilmed
and indexed. Twenty-nine microfilm rolls of the records of the former Smith-Rees Funeral Home
(1914-1976) and fifteen rolls of the records of the former Whaley Funeral Home (1893-1982) are
available for viewing in the
Christine Burgan Kentucky Room at the
Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library,
at
104 North Main Street, in Cynthiana.
Each roll of
microfilmed records in the drawers of the Kentucky Room begins with the index
pages relevant to that film. All of the index pages from the microfilm
have also been printed and comb-bound and are available for searching on the
shelves of the Kentucky Room, so you don't have to look at the microfilm to view
the index. Also, a copy of the consolidated index exists of both funeral
homes' records in one volume, and it sits in a three-ring binder on the shelves
of the Kentucky Room.
Before examining these
records on the microfilm, one should note the particular arrangement of the records which have
been microfilmed. While the Whaley Funeral Home records have been filmed
in alphabetical order on each roll, the records of the Smyth-Rees Funeral Home
are arranged differently. They are arranged alphabetically by the initial
letter of the subject's surname, and then chronologically by date of death, which may cause a little confusion at first
if not aware of the situation. For example, the records of a person named
Smith who died in 1930 will appear before those of a Simmons who died in 1940.
This index modifies the
content of the originals in that it does not include several columns of data,
such as volume and page numbers for early Whaley Funeral Home records and the
number of microfilm images or frames which make up each individual record.
This data is not necessary to determine whether or not you have a match for your
research subject or to find the records on the microfilm.
Ages at death and burial
location information were only a part of the Whaley Funeral Home records indexes
up to 1927, and that data is a part of this index.
In the process of
transcribing Battle Grove burial records and developing a more extensive
database of burials there, an attempt was made to match individual index entries
of both the Smith-Rees and Whaley funeral home records indexes to the burial
register entries of individuals interred in Battle Grove Cemetery. In the
process, the burial location of nearly 8,000 deceased persons serviced by
Smith-Rees and Whaley were identified and the burial location information with
regards to Battle Grove burials has been incorporated into this online index.
Those Battle Grove Cemetery burials identified in such a manner have a double
asterisk ("**") in the "Burial Location" column. As this particular set of
burial data came about purely by matching name and approximate date of death
(Battle Grove Cemetery burial registers only contain dates of burial) one should
not completely rely on this online index as a definitive source of information
regarding a burial there, but it should provide a quick (and, I might say, a
fairly solid clue), in determining the location of information regarding your
reseach subject's burial.
Obtaining a
Copy
At present, the only
known location of these microfilmed records is in the Kentucky Room of the
Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library (The University of Kentucky (Lexington)
may have rolls available for interlibrary loan). The staff there does not
take photocopy requests, and so, to my knowledge, the only way to obtain a copy
of any record is to hire a local records researcher or make a visit in person.
Before examining the
microfilm records yourself, one should note the particular arrangement of the records which have
been microfilmed. While the Whaley Funeral Home records have been filmed
in alphabetical order on each roll, the records of the Smyth-Rees Funeral Home
are arranged differently. They have been filmed in chronological order
under each letter of the alphabet, which may cause a little confusion at first
if not aware of the situation.
Research Tips
When searching this
online index, keep in mind the timespan of the
covered by the two sets of funeral home records (Smith-Rees Funeral Home
(1914-1976) & Whaley Funeral Home (1893-1982)). The failure to
find a match for your research subject in this index, does not mean that they
were not serviced by a Harrison County funeral home; other funeral homes
existed, but they have not made their records public. The existence of
other local undertaking contemporaries of Smith-Rees and Whaley may explain why
only 105 of the entries of this index were "Colored" or "African-American."
The J.L. Davis Funeral Home was an African-American-owned business establishment
which served the local community during the same period as Smith-Rees and Whaley
funeral homes.
"Good Luck" with your
research!
I didn't attend the funeral . . .
but I sent a nice letter
saying
. . .
I approved
of it!
--Mark Twain
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More Funeral Home Records Indexes
Colonial Funeral Home
- Randall Ashbrook
established Colonial Funeral Home on Walnut Street in Cynthiana, Kentucky, in
1975. In 1981, James and Patty Drake purchased the Colonial Funeral Home
and operated the business as Drake Funeral Home until 2003. At that time
the name was officially changed to Drake-Whaley-McCarty Funeral Home.
Records of this funeral
home have not been microfilmed, but they have been indexed and are available to
the public in
the
Christine Burgan Kentucky Room at the
Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library.
There one may view photocopies of the original records bound in a
three-ring-binder.
The index is not
a complete listing of all the funerals conducted by Colonial Funeral Home.
When Randall Ashbrook sold the business in 1981, he retained the records of all
transactions which were not paid in full. These records were
destroyed by Mr. Ashbrook, after payment.
An online index of
Colonial Funeral Home records is available
online.
Woodhead Funeral Home
- Doug A. Harper, of
Lexington, Kentucky, has also compiled an index of the deceased serviced by the
Woodhead Funeral Home (1892-1996). Woodhead mostly served
the residents of the northern portion of Harrison County as well as Pendleton
County. Woodhead is still in business, with funeral homes in Falmouth, in
Pendleton County, & Berry, in Harrison County, Kentucky. I believe that
the Woodhead Funeral Home Index is available for review at both the Cynthiana-Harrison
County Public Library and at the Pendleton County Library in Falmouth, Kentucky.
It is also available from
Doug A. Harper for only $15.00
postpaid.
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Funeral Homes Serving the County Today
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The Drake-Whaley-McCarty Funeral Home
(Photo by Philip Naff) |
Of course there are
still funeral homes in business in Harrison County today, and there is nothing
to prevent you from making a call or writing a letter to see if they might have
information about the more recently deceased, however the results may be mixed
depending on the privacy policies or other factors in determining how helpful
any will be in answering a genealogical request.
Both
Drake-Whaley-McCarty Funeral Home
and
Ware
Funeral Home maintain pages at their sites for obituaries and memorials and
these may be good sources of information to contact distant cousins.
A search of
Switchboard.com provided me with the following list of local funeral homes
servicing Cynthiana & Harrison County, Kentucky:
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Drake-Whaley-McCarty Funeral Home
112 North Walnut Street
Cynthiana,
KY
41031-1224
Phone: (859) 234-6333
Fax: (859) 234-0376
Website:
www.drakewhaleymccartyfuneralhome.com/
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Ware
Funeral Home
"Harrison County's Only Locally Owned Funeral
Home"
846 U.S. Highway
27 North
Cynthiana,
KY
41031-6198
Phone: (859) 234-4000
Phone: (859) 234-5777
(Obituary Information Line)
Fax: (859) 234-4093
Website:
www.warefuneralhome.com/
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Woodhead Funeral Home
(Woodhead Funeral Homes, Inc. is a registered as a
'Century-Old' Business in Kentucky)
310 West Shelby Street
Falmouth,
KY
41040-1142
Phone: (859) 654-3306
Phone: (859) 654-4422
(24-hr. Obituary Info)
Website: N/A
Woodhead Funeral Home
Main Street
Berry,
KY 41003
Phone: (859) 234-5232
A great majority of
the local funerals are managed by local companies, however, occasionally an
out-of-county funeral home will handle the arrangements. When this occurs
a majority of them appear to be handled by Lexington, Kentucky funeral homes.
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The Home
Funeral
In the day before funeral
homes, there were funerals at home, usually in the parlor, the predecessor to
the modern "living room," a term which itself apparently came about, in part, to
distinguish it from the parlor's traditional ibut brief use during times of a
family's grief.
In a brief but
interesting one page article appeared in the Winter, 2007 (Vol. 29, No. 1)
edition of Black History News & Notes, a quarterly publication of the
Indiana Historical Society, Jason Meyers, curator of the
Museum of Funeral Customs in Springfield, Illinois writes of the bygone
practice of having a funeral held in a private family home:
The undertaker arrived
and all but took over the house. After meeting with the family to plan
the funeral, the undertaker then prepared the body. While not usually
privy to this operation, most visitors recall that embalming took place in the
kitchen, and for quite logical reasons. The room usually did not have
carpet (so the undertaker need not worry about stains). It often had a
more discreet back door (so the undertaker need not traipse through the house
with equipment), and it had access to water (necessary for cleaning the body
an diluting embalming fluids). The undertaker embalmed the body on a
portable table brought to the house for that purpose, along with other
equipment for preparation. In some cases, the funeral director may have
used a bed in one of the bedrooms.
After World War I funeral
directors began to build their own facilities or renovate pre-existing homes,
hence the term "funeral home." The undertaker no longer had to transport
all of his equipment to the residence of the deceased's family, and so the
funeral moved out of the home to his place of business. During the World
War II era, a majority of funerals began to take place outside of the home, to
the point where the home funeral is a virtually non-existent practice today.
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Even More
Funeral Home
HISTORY
The J.L. Davis
Funeral Home
James Luke
Davis, son of Henry and Betty Robb Davis, was born during the time of
strife between the North and the South.
The Frisby
family operated a furniture repair shop at the corner of the alley that
intersects Walnut between Bridge and Pike Streets. In the rear of
the furniture repair shop there was a funeral home. The family,
interested in the lad, allowed him to work here. It was there that
Luke Davis grew from boyhood to manhood learning the craft of
upholstery, caning and repair of furniture. His interest in the
funeral business was also aroused and as a result, he learned the
fundamentals of embalming as an apprentice of Harry Frisby.
Their
business which was three-fold, occupied two different locations.
The funeral home and furniture repair shop were located in a building
owned by Davis on the north east corner of Poplar and Pleasant Streets.
The third phase of their business was selling and delivering coal.
The coal yard was located on a lot owned by Coleman on the south west
corner of Poplar and Mill Streets.
The business
of Davis and Coleman lasted until the death of Coleman. After
which Davis discontinued the coal business. The firm name was
changed from Davis & Coleman to J.L. Davis Funeral Home.
A building
on the corner that had been the property of Davis had been sold to Abe
Stewart. Meanwhile Davis purchased property on Poplar Street from
Mrs. Mattie Steele and moved his Funeral Home and Furniture repair to
it's present location on Poplar Street at the south east corner of the
alley that intersects Poplar Street between Pleasant and Mill Streets.
[Page 2]
To better prepare himself for the vocation he had chosen, Luke Davis
attended a full course of instruction and demonstrations at the College
of Embalming in Cincinnati, Ohio. On the 28th day of March, 1904
he graduated from the College and was awarded a diploma. He passed
the examination given in Shelbyville by the Kentucky State Board of
Embalming and received his license November 1st, 1904. Ten years
later on the 1st day of July, 1914 the Kentucky State Board of
Embalming, now located in Louisville, Kentucky, awarded him an
undertaker's license. He was assisted by his wife, Mrs. Sudie
Winston Davis, who served as "lady attendant."
Realizing
that there was a need to perpetuate his business, Davis influenced his
nephew, James Lucas Bradshaw, to enter the business with him.
Bradshaw, the son of Horace Deshea and America Davis (Luke's sister) was
a contractor in plastering and concrete finishing. He continued
the work in his chosen field, but also prepared himself to adequately
assume the position offered by his uncle.
On the 10th
day of June, 1920 Bradshaw was awarded his Embalmers license by the
Kentucky State Board of Embalming in Shelbyville, Ky. His
undertaker's license was awarded in Louisville, Kentucky by the Kentucky
State Board of Embalming on the 7th day of January, 1937. To
further prepare himself, Bradshaw attended and educational clinic
sponsored by Bondol Chemicals, embracing subjects in Ultra Mortuary
Science. He completed this lecture course of study and on the 21st
day of November, 1940 received his certificate from Madison, Arkansas.
He became an
affiliate of the Kentucky Association of Morticians, Incorporated on the
9th day of July, 1960 and remained a member until his death July 14th,
1971. His wife Clydie Harrington Bradshaw assisted as "lady
attendant."
[Page 3]
Bradshaw extended the invitation to enter the funeral directing business
to his son in law, William Swinford Nichols. Nichols, a radio and
television technician, had married the Bradshaw's daughter, Georgia.
After Nichols completed his tour of duty in the U.S. Navy during World
War II, he worked as an apprentice to Bradshaw. Having completed
his apprenticeship he passed the required examination by the Kentucky
State Board of Funeral Directors and on the 30th of June, 1949 received
his funeral directors license.
Nichols then
took advantage of the G.I. Bill of Rights and attended the Ky. School of
Embalming in Louisville, Kentucky. Here he graduated and received
his diploma June 7, 1950. His embalmers license was awarded by the
state board July 6, 1950.
On August
14th, 1956 Nichols purchased the J.L. Davis Funeral Home from Bradshaw.
They continued to operate the business as partners until Bradshaw's
death in 1971.
William
Swinford Nichols at the present Bicentennial date is operating the
business with the help of his wife Georgia Nichols, who is the "lady
attendant."
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History compiled May, 1976 by Mrs.
William S. Nichols (Georgia Bradshaw Nichols), great-niece of James Luke
Davis.
Source: Nichols,
Georgia Bradshaw, History of the J.L. Davis Funeral Home, May,
1976 (A four-page typescript found in the vertical files (Funeral Homes)
of the local history file drawers of the Christine Burgan Kentucky Room
in the Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library.
And More
Funeral Home
HISTORY
R.L. Slade
The portrait of Mr.
R.L. Slade, of Berry, appears on this page. He is one of the leading
citizens of the thriving little town and has done much towards its advancement.
Mr. Slade was born
in Pendleton county [sic] in 1870. From 1887 until 1890 he was
engaged in the grocery business at Falmouth, but afterwards connected himself
with the W.G. Oldham furniture and undertaking establishment. In 1891 he
removed to Berry where, with a partner, he established a furniture and
undertaking house, and has enjoyed a large trade.
Being a loyal
democrat he was appointed postmaster at Berry in 1898. Mr. Slade,
organized Berry Lodge, No. 108, K. of P. in 1893, and later, in 1895, organized
Orion Division, No. 44, U.R.K.P. he is secretary of the Pythian Grove
Cemetery Co.
Mr. Slade is a busy
man--postmaster, undertaker, furniture dealer, and best of all a live
correspondent for the DEMOCRAT.
Source: CD, 1896, Special Edition, p. 14, col. 1.
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