Thomas, Merle

Occupation: Undertaker; cabinet shop proprietor

Associated places: Douglas, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska

Biography

Merle Thomas was associated with the early undertaking trade in the Douglas–Juneau mining community during Alaska’s territorial period.

In the early years of Douglas, there were no morticians as the profession is known today. Cabinet shops commonly produced furniture and caskets, and the owners of those shops often served as the undertakers for the town. Advertisements in the Douglas Island News described these businesses as providing “Undertaking … Manufacturers of Furniture, Carpentering, Jobbing, Store & Office Fixtures.”

Other advertisements referred to “Douglas Undertaking Parlors, Funeral Directors and Embalmers.” Among the undertakers serving the Douglas community were H.V. Sully, John A. McKanna (a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Igloo), T.P. Sheldon, and L.G. Thomas and Merle Thomas.

These early cabinetmakers and undertakers provided essential services to the rapidly growing mining community associated with the Treadwell mines and the settlement of Douglas Island.

Sources

• Survey and Inventory of Douglas Historic Cemeteries