Funeral Director
Rudolph Funeral Home
Waxahachie, Texas
_____________________
Wylie Kidd Rudolph was born to John L. Rudolph and Dicey Young in Paducah, Kentucky on September 1, 1879. By 1905, he and his brother, Stephen, had come to Texas settling in the growing city of Waxahachie. They established the "Rudolph Furniture Company" in the center of the city and prospered. Eventually, the Rudolph brothers added "and Undertaking" to their business name, because they soon provided quality coffins to their customers since the manufacturers of their furniture were also the makers of their wooden coffins.
At the time, most funerals were handled by individual families. The family would wash and dress the deceased in the home and, because embalming was not yet in vogue, burials usually took place the next day especially in the hot Texas summers. There was no time to build a coffin and many lacked the skills to do so. In most small Texas towns, the local hardware store was the only source for a ready-made coffin.
As time passed, the Rudolphs added services like the transport of the body from the home to the cemetery. Traditionally, the body would lie in state in the home of the deceased overnight as family and friends kept watch. The next morning, the coffin would be transported by buckboard (and eventually a hearse) to the cemetery.
As embalming became available (and affordable), burials could be delayed allowing distant relatives to attend the funeral. Funeral homes evolved from this practice as a place to process and store the deceased until burial took place.
Both brothers worked at the funeral home until their deaths. The family later sold it to Floyd Owens, then an officer with Morticians Supply Co. in Dallas. The Rudolph Funeral Home was later owned by John Snider as the Rudolph/Snider Funeral Home until he sold it to Boze-Mitchell in 1981. The old Rudolph Funeral Home was torn down in 2002.
Randell Tarin
25 August 2019
Contributor: Randell Tarin (46974932) • [email protected]
Rudolph Funeral Home
Waxahachie, Texas
_____________________
Wylie Kidd Rudolph was born to John L. Rudolph and Dicey Young in Paducah, Kentucky on September 1, 1879. By 1905, he and his brother, Stephen, had come to Texas settling in the growing city of Waxahachie. They established the "Rudolph Furniture Company" in the center of the city and prospered. Eventually, the Rudolph brothers added "and Undertaking" to their business name, because they soon provided quality coffins to their customers since the manufacturers of their furniture were also the makers of their wooden coffins.
At the time, most funerals were handled by individual families. The family would wash and dress the deceased in the home and, because embalming was not yet in vogue, burials usually took place the next day especially in the hot Texas summers. There was no time to build a coffin and many lacked the skills to do so. In most small Texas towns, the local hardware store was the only source for a ready-made coffin.
As time passed, the Rudolphs added services like the transport of the body from the home to the cemetery. Traditionally, the body would lie in state in the home of the deceased overnight as family and friends kept watch. The next morning, the coffin would be transported by buckboard (and eventually a hearse) to the cemetery.
As embalming became available (and affordable), burials could be delayed allowing distant relatives to attend the funeral. Funeral homes evolved from this practice as a place to process and store the deceased until burial took place.
Both brothers worked at the funeral home until their deaths. The family later sold it to Floyd Owens, then an officer with Morticians Supply Co. in Dallas. The Rudolph Funeral Home was later owned by John Snider as the Rudolph/Snider Funeral Home until he sold it to Boze-Mitchell in 1981. The old Rudolph Funeral Home was torn down in 2002.
Randell Tarin
25 August 2019
Contributor: Randell Tarin (46974932) • [email protected]
Funeral Director
Rudolph Funeral Home
Waxahachie, Texas
_____________________
Wylie Kidd Rudolph was born to John L. Rudolph and Dicey Young in Paducah, Kentucky on September 1, 1879. By 1905, he and his brother, Stephen, had come to Texas settling in the growing city of Waxahachie. They established the "Rudolph Furniture Company" in the center of the city and prospered. Eventually, the Rudolph brothers added "and Undertaking" to their business name, because they soon provided quality coffins to their customers since the manufacturers of their furniture were also the makers of their wooden coffins.
At the time, most funerals were handled by individual families. The family would wash and dress the deceased in the home and, because embalming was not yet in vogue, burials usually took place the next day especially in the hot Texas summers. There was no time to build a coffin and many lacked the skills to do so. In most small Texas towns, the local hardware store was the only source for a ready-made coffin.
As time passed, the Rudolphs added services like the transport of the body from the home to the cemetery. Traditionally, the body would lie in state in the home of the deceased overnight as family and friends kept watch. The next morning, the coffin would be transported by buckboard (and eventually a hearse) to the cemetery.
As embalming became available (and affordable), burials could be delayed allowing distant relatives to attend the funeral. Funeral homes evolved from this practice as a place to process and store the deceased until burial took place.
Both brothers worked at the funeral home until their deaths. The family later sold it to Floyd Owens, then an officer with Morticians Supply Co. in Dallas. The Rudolph Funeral Home was later owned by John Snider as the Rudolph/Snider Funeral Home until he sold it to Boze-Mitchell in 1981. The old Rudolph Funeral Home was torn down in 2002.
Randell Tarin
25 August 2019
Contributor: Randell Tarin (46974932) • [email protected]
Rudolph Funeral Home
Waxahachie, Texas
_____________________
Wylie Kidd Rudolph was born to John L. Rudolph and Dicey Young in Paducah, Kentucky on September 1, 1879. By 1905, he and his brother, Stephen, had come to Texas settling in the growing city of Waxahachie. They established the "Rudolph Furniture Company" in the center of the city and prospered. Eventually, the Rudolph brothers added "and Undertaking" to their business name, because they soon provided quality coffins to their customers since the manufacturers of their furniture were also the makers of their wooden coffins.
At the time, most funerals were handled by individual families. The family would wash and dress the deceased in the home and, because embalming was not yet in vogue, burials usually took place the next day especially in the hot Texas summers. There was no time to build a coffin and many lacked the skills to do so. In most small Texas towns, the local hardware store was the only source for a ready-made coffin.
As time passed, the Rudolphs added services like the transport of the body from the home to the cemetery. Traditionally, the body would lie in state in the home of the deceased overnight as family and friends kept watch. The next morning, the coffin would be transported by buckboard (and eventually a hearse) to the cemetery.
As embalming became available (and affordable), burials could be delayed allowing distant relatives to attend the funeral. Funeral homes evolved from this practice as a place to process and store the deceased until burial took place.
Both brothers worked at the funeral home until their deaths. The family later sold it to Floyd Owens, then an officer with Morticians Supply Co. in Dallas. The Rudolph Funeral Home was later owned by John Snider as the Rudolph/Snider Funeral Home until he sold it to Boze-Mitchell in 1981. The old Rudolph Funeral Home was torn down in 2002.
Randell Tarin
25 August 2019
Contributor: Randell Tarin (46974932) • [email protected]
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