Henderson history: French brothers began longstanding undertaking in 1848

More than 175 years ago two French brothers named Schaeffer began letting Henderson residents down for the very last time.

Jacob and Thebo (sometimes spelled Thebaut or Thebeaut) set up business in 1848, according to the 23 S. Main St. entry in the 1985 book “Old Henderson Homes and Buildings.” They initially built furniture, according to the 1850 census.

In fact, the earliest mention of them I could find in the County Court Order books is dated Jan. 22, 1855, when the court ordered they be paid $18 for building a dozen chairs for the courthouse. Perhaps for jury use?

The Schaeffer brothers were among Henderson’s earliest undertakers – if not the first. I use that old term because it wasn’t until 1895 that Kentucky undertakers decided they wanted to be called morticians. We’re more likely to call them embalmers or funeral directors nowadays.

Benton-Glunt & Tapp Funeral Home can directly trace its history to the Schaeffer brothers, who I’ll circle back to in a second, but first I want to give a tip of the hat to Rudy-Rowland Funeral Home, which can trace its ancestry to at least January 1896 when W. Given Rudy was partnered with Ignatius T. Spalding in the Henderson Coffin and Embalming Co.

According to The Gleaner of Feb. 12, 1908, Rudy merged his mortuary with the livery business of H.G. and James Rowland, who did business at First and Green streets. That merger created the Rudy-Rowland we know today. (Rudy ended his career working with Otis A. Benton.)

Jim Rowland was the old man of the local funeral business when he sat down for an interview with Jack Hudgions, which appeared in the Evansville Sunday Courier & Press of Feb. 13, 1955. He laid out the ways the business had changed since he entered it.

Back then, he said, family or friends of the deceased would choose a coffin the day before the funeral. The funeral home would pick up the body the day of the funeral, take it straight to the service, and then to the graveyard.

“Fifty years ago, about one person out of every 40 was embalmed for burial. Now, we wouldn’t think about burying a person without embalming.”

I’m not sure how much – if any – embalming Jacob and Thebo did in their business; I haven’t seen references to local embalming before the 1880s, but that’s not to say it didn’t happen. Melanie Harrah, owner of Benton-Glunt & Tapp, told me embalming got its start during the Civil War.

The 1850 census says Jacob was 38 and Thebo was 24. For years I’ve run across references to T. Schaeffer as an undertaker but it took a little work to figure out his first name. Most of my 1860s information comes from the Civil War period of the Henderson Weekly Reporter.

The Feb. 8, 1862, issue carried an advertisement from Thebo that talked about his furniture and undertaking business. He had two horse-drawn hearses and “a variety of wood and metallic coffins.”

But he left the furniture business four months later, selling it to Augustus Palis, and by Aug. 13 was moving his undertaking operation to the John McCombs stable on Main Street.

Thebo experienced cash flow problems throughout the Civil War (like most local merchants) and by 1864 his notices became more strident. This item from the Reporter of July 22, 1864, is illustrative: “Pay the undertaker!” the headline blared. “All those indebted to the undersigned are requested to come forward and settle. If they do not heed this notice within a few days the accounts will be put in the hands of officers for collection.” The notice made clear that his brother Jacob was authorized to receive money while he was out of town.

Most of the Reporter’s advertisements throughout the Civil War were under the name T. Schaeffer and little notice was made of Jacob. But an inventory of Jacob’s estate, filed Oct. 16, 1876, contains a long list of tools and materials for crafting coffins, such as fabric, lumber, and precious metals. Jacob also was the first to begin buying property on Main Street.

The “Old Henderson Homes and Buildings” book says Thebo sold to William H. Klee in 1879 although the 1880 Henderson County atlas lists Thebo as still being the owner. The County Court Orders of March 3, 1883, noted Thebo’s wife, Mildred, had been appointed administrator of his estate.

That was about the time Klee took control of 15-17 S. Main St.

The Reporter of Aug. 17, 1882, had this to say: “Wm. Klee, undertaker, has and furnishes his own embalming fluid, which contains no poisons as others do.”

By 1899 Klee was well enough established to build the beautiful Queen Anne-style house at the northwest corner of Main and Washington streets.

A number of other undertakers came and went between 1880 and 1900. Here’s a brief list, which is by no means comprehensive:

The Reporter of Jan. 10, 1882, noted undertakers Gilligan & Becker were in business but it didn’t last long. The March 7 issue of the Semi-Weekly Reporter noted it had been liquidated. Ning Mitchusson bid $2.50 for a cooling board because he wanted to relax on it in his backyard. A neighbor threatened to organize a picket line if he did. He refrained.

The Aug. 15 issue reported Robert Dixon had bought the entire stock of Gilligan & Becker and was entering the undertaking business. He already had a large livery business at the northwest corner of First and Elm streets.The Henderson City Directory of 1889-90 lists Cotton & Crum at 213 Second St.

I mentioned earlier the Henderson Coffin and Embalming Co. of early 1896, but there was a competitor back then along with Klee. D.H. Lehman was the undertaker for a partnership composed of T.W. Priest, W.E. Labry and Wyatt H. Ingram Jr., according to the Henderson Journal of Nov. 16, 1896.

There was an early morning fire at Lehman’s establishment, according to the Journal of May 14, 1895: “The caskets blazed in a lively manner for some time after the arrival of the fire department” but were extinguished before spreading to the upstairs offices.

Klee and Given Rudy outlasted them all. Toward the end of his life Klee took on Claud A. Morton as a partner and the firm became known as Klee-Morton. Klee died at age 60, according to his obituary in The Gleaner of Jan. 4, 1920,

Klee’s will set aside $500 to buy a modest house for his “faithful colored servant Henry Blackwell,” and his daughters were required to pay the taxes and insurance. The property reverted to them after Blackwell’s death, however.About a month after Klee’s death The Gleaner of Feb. 8 announced that Webster County undertaker Luther Tapp had joined the Klee-Morton firm, which became Klee-Morton-Tapp. Morton died Sept. 29, 1939, and the corporation dissolved in 1940. At that point it became Tapp Funeral Home.

The firm built new quarters on Third Street in 1926; in recent years it merged with Benton-Glunt Funeral Home to become Benton-Glunt & Tapp Funeral Home. The merged operation retains the Benton-Glunt building at 629 S. Green St.

I’ll wrap this up by explaining what got me writing about undertakers. There’s a story in The Gleaner of March 16, 1924, about the James H. Fleming & Son monument dealer, which originated in 1864.

Fleming wasn’t the first local merchant of tombstones. The Democratic Banner of April 22, 1852, carries the advertisement of L.F. Danforth, who had just bought the local marble works. Also, the 1850 census lists five men who were either marble agents or dealers.

The Fleming firm, however, supplied many of the markers set in the cemeteries of Vicksburg and Natchez, Mississippi, right after the Civil War.

Fleming came to Henderson from Evansville to join the firm of James Karins, according to the Reporter of Dec. 1, 1864, and the Fleming firm lasted until about 1931.

The Civil War Reporter usually ran Fleming’s advertisements right next to Thebo’s and I’d been curious about T. Schaeffer for years. I couldn’t resist a swan dive into that black hole.

75 YEARS AGO

Three children were being treated for rabies after being bitten by a dog, according to The Gleaner of March 18, 1949.

The three were Billy Joe Crowley, 3; Shirley Samples, 13; and James A. Nichols, 12, according to county health officer Dr. L.M. Weaver. He said several other people were also being treated for rabies.

50 YEARS AGO

Businessman and newscaster S.Z. “Sol” Bernstein died at the age of 56, according to The Gleaner of March 26, 1974.

He operated a clothing store and was news director at Henderson Cable TV at the time of his death. Before that, he spent years as a Gleaner reporter and worked as a correspondent for several Evansville television and radio stations.

The Gleaner’s editorial of March 27 noted his news output was prodigious – and his contributions of public service were outstanding. “Henderson was a better town because of the life of Sol Bernstein.”

25 YEARS AGO

CSX Railroad was considering painting the rusty railroad bridge at the riverfront after meeting with local officials, which prompted some optimism, according to The Gleaner of March 20, 1999.

It had been decades since the bridge had been painted with toxic lead paint.

The optimism failed to bear fruit -- the bridge remains unpainted.

Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson history: French brothers began longstanding undertaking in 1848