SCATES
UNDERTAKING COMPANY, McKENZIE, TENNESSEE
In
the early 1900s, W. F. Scates and Son Undertaking Co. was a
well-known establishment on Broadway Street in McKenzie, Tennessee.
On 30 June 1913, Fern Scates bought the interest of William Fountain
Scates and it became known as Scates Undertaking Co.
The two extant books of the Scates Undertaking Co. contain original
records of 462 burials from 1913-1915 and 1924-1926. The business
was purchased by Mr. Elijah Charles (Charlie) Penick in 1926. Mr.
Penick saved the two extant Scates books from destruction when he
found the proprietor of an adjoining shoe repair shop using pages
from the Scates Undertaking Co. books to light the fire in her
stove. Mr. Penick hurriedly cut firewood for the proprietor and
retrieved the two extant Scates Undertaking books. They are now
housed in the Gordon Browning Museum.
