Guide to the Records of Newcomer Funeral Parlor, 1862-1935
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Records of Newcomer Funeral Parlor
- Creator
- Newcomer Funeral Parlor
- Collection Number
- MSS#363
- Extent
- 1.0 cubic feet (2 boxes)
- Date
- 1862-1935
- Abstract
- William Scott Newcomer (1859? - 1935) and Ada K. Bear Newcomer (1863-1935) operated a funeral parlor at 2108 Perrysville Avenue, Fifth Ward, Allegheny City, Pa. from the late 1880s until their retirement in 1931. These records include personal letters/correspondence with attorneys and descendants families, financial records, clippings, blank Form of Transportation of Corpse, cemetery receipts, and accounting ledgers for mortuary work.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Historical Sketch of the Newcomer Funeral Parlor
William Scott Newcomer (1859? - 1935) and Ada K. Bear Newcomer (1863-1935) operated a funeral parlor at 2108 Perrysville Avenue, Fifth Ward, Allegheny City, Pa. from the late 1880s until their retirement in 1931. Both went to embalming school in Philadelphia, Pa. They were married in 1883. They had one child, a daughter, named Mabel E. Newcomer Jackson. They were members of St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Pittsburgh. Scott Newcomer was secretary of the Allegheny County Funeral Directors Association from 1903 until 1931. He was secretary of the Pennsylvania Directors' Association from 1913 until 1931. He was also the organizer of the State Association Mutual Death Benefit Fund. Upon their deaths, each were cremated at the Beinhauer Mortuary and their ashes entombed in a crypt in the Mt. Royal Mausoleum.
Scope and Content Notes
The William Scott Newcomer Funeral Parlor records are housed in two boxes consisting of twenty-two folders and three wrapped ledgers or volumes. These records include personal letters/correspondence with attorneys and descendants families, financial records, blank Form of Transportation of Corpse, cemetery receipts, and accounting ledgers for mortuary work from 1862 to 1886 for Anderville and Laysville, Pa.; from 1898 to 1903 for Allegheny, Pa.; from 1891 to 1896 for Newport, Pa.; from 1899 to 1906 for Allegheny City, Pa.; from 1906 to 1913 for Allegheny City, Pa. A clippings folder contains anniversary and death notices for William Scott and Ada K. Bear Newcomer from 1933 and 1935, respectively.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection came in one accession in 2000.
Archives Accession # 2000.0057 Gift of Joanne Fitting (granddaughter of W. S. & Ada Newcomer)
Preferred Citation
Records of Newcomer Funeral Parlor, 1862-1935, MSS #363, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by David McMunn in June 2002.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Robert O. Stakeley on November 11, 2003.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.