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