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Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 12:36 pm
by Jerry B.
Here's a receipt from W.C. Froehley & Son which specialized in Victrolas, pianos, furniture, and undertaking. Since Thursday is Halloween, the receipt is a bit macabre because it's a receipt for a funeral and services provided. The funeral was for Dr. Francis Granville Barnes and is dated Oct. 27, 1921. I thought it interesting that the total cost of $416.10 which was around the cost of a new 1921 Ford Model T. Dr. Barnes must have been a prominent and much loved individual. He went out in style.

Jerry Blais

Re: Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 1:41 pm
by phonogfp
As soon as I saw that dealer's name, a bell went off. Hamburg is about 90 minutes west of us, and I have something, somewhere around here, from the firm...

Dr. Barnes would no doubt be surprised that his funeral expenses of 100 years ago today are not only preserved, but being disseminated worldwide...! :)

George P.

Re: Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 4:27 pm
by JohnM
$5929.42 in 2019 dollars.

Re: Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 5:02 pm
by Retrograde
phonogfp wrote:As soon as I saw that dealer's name, a bell went off. Hamburg is about 90 minutes west of us, and I have something, somewhere around here, from the firm...

Dr. Barnes would no doubt be surprised that his funeral expenses of 100 years ago today are not only preserved, but being disseminated worldwide...! :)

George P.
The Internets knows everything!
Findagrave ...but what happened to his wife Ada? Did someone just not get around to updating the head stone?And don't forget poor little John.
:o

Re: Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 7:42 pm
by zenith82
Thanks for sharing. A very interesting invoice, if I say so myself.

In a lot of smaller towns, it wasn't unusual for furniture and general merchandise dealers to also have a product line of coffins. My hometown was the same way, with the coffin business getting spun off into a separate undertaking venture around 1907 or so.

If the common practice back then wasn't to have the viewing at the deceased's home, I would wonder if they used the acoustics of the viewing parlor to sell their phonographs...

Re: Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 10:06 pm
by MikeB
I've posted this dealer tag from my Victrola IV before, but here it is again, as it seems appropriate here. Boo...

Mike

Re: Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:40 am
by Benjamin_L
Wasn't there a casket company that also made an off-brand?

Re: Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 12:04 pm
by MikeB
Actually, Edison may have been working on the Necrophone. This would have made for some interesting Diamond Discs.

https://www.hellystar.com/en/necrophone-thomas-edison/

Mike

Re: Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 8:57 pm
by emerson
Well, after reading the post and replies----definitely a good Halloween story.

Re: Victrola, Furniture, & Undertaking Business

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:22 pm
by edisonclassm
Jerry,
What a small world we live in. I live in the town of Hamburg and know of this Undertaker. They buried my father when he died in 1984. This funeral home is no longer in business now but had been a well known and established business in town. I had no idea they sold Victrolas and pianos. Now I know. PB