Sheldon, T. P.

Occupation: Undertaker; cabinet and furniture maker

Associated Places: Douglas, Alaska

Biography

T. P. Sheldon was an early undertaker in Douglas, Alaska, during the territorial period.

In the early years of the mining communities of Douglas and Juneau, morticians did not exist in the modern sense. Instead, local cabinetmakers and furniture builders frequently assumed responsibility for preparing the deceased and providing burial services for the community. These craftsmen produced both furniture and caskets, and their workshops often served as the town’s undertaking establishments.

Advertisements in the Douglas Island News described such businesses as offering “Undertaking … Manufacturers of Furniture, Carpentering, Jobbing, Store & Office Fixtures.”

Other notices referred to businesses such as the Douglas Undertaking Parlors, Funeral Directors, and Embalmers. Among those known to have served as undertakers in the Douglas community were H. V. Sully, John A. McKanna, T. P. Sheldon, L. G. Thomas, and Merle Thomas.

These early undertakers played an essential role in frontier communities, providing burial services when professional funeral homes had not yet been established in Southeast Alaska.

Sources

Survey and Inventory of Douglas Historic Cemeteries