Primary Name: Sully, H. V.

Filed as: Sully, H. V.

Also known as: H. V. Sully

Occupation / Association: Undertaker; cabinet shop owner; charter member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Men's Igloo

Associated places: Douglas, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: H.V. Sully, Sully family Douglas Alaska, Douglas undertakers, Douglas funeral directors, cabinet makers Douglas Alaska, Douglas undertaking parlors, Pioneers of Alaska charter members, Juneau Douglas businesses

Biography

H. V. Sully was associated with the undertaking and furniture trade in Douglas, Alaska, during the territorial period and was a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Men's Igloo.

In the early communities of Southeast Alaska, there were no morticians as the profession is known today. Cabinet shops often produced furniture as well as coffins and caskets, and the owners of these shops commonly served as undertakers for the community.

Advertisements in the Douglas Island News described such businesses as “Undertaking … Manufacturers of Furniture, Carpentering, Jobbing, Store and Office Fixtures.” Other advertisements referred to the “Douglas Undertaking Parlors, Funeral Directors and Embalmers.”

Among those associated with undertaking services in Douglas were H. V. Sully, Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo charter member John A. McKanna, T. P. Sheldon, L. G. Thomas, and Merle Thomas.

These early undertakers provided essential services for the growing mining community and its surrounding settlements during the development of Douglas and the Juneau area.

Sources

Survey and Inventory of Douglas Historic Cemeteries.

Thomas, Merle

Occupation: Undertaker; funeral director

Associated places: Douglas, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska

Biography

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

In the early years of the community, 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 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 individuals involved in the undertaking trade in the Douglas area 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.

The work of these early undertakers was essential to the developing mining community, where burial grounds such as those on Douglas Island served the rapidly growing population connected with the Treadwell mining district.

Sources

• Survey and Inventory of Douglas Historic Cemeteries

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

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