29. The Early Undertaker

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The Early Undertaker – 96 River St

In nineteenth-century communities such as Sunderland, undertaking and furniture making were closely connected trades. Furniture makers already possessed the woodworking skills and equipment needed to construct coffins, and families generally held funeral services in their own homes before travelling directly to the cemetery.

One of the earliest undertakers recorded in the Sunderland area was G. A. Leach, who appears in the 1877 Ontario County Atlas.

By the early twentieth century, Robert Charter operated a furniture and undertaking business from this River Street building. Charter remained here until about 1915, providing Sunderland families with both household furnishings and funeral services.

His work also survives in another Sunderland landmark. In 1906, Charter supplied the folding seats for the new Sunderland Town Hall. Those original seats included a wire rack underneath where gentlemen attending a performance could place their hats.

After 1915, Lorne Pinkham took over the furniture and undertaking business. The building served several purposes at once: part of the main floor was used as a funeral parlour, other areas displayed furniture, and the Pinkham family also lived on the premises.

Despite becoming a businessman in town, Lorne maintained his connection to farming. A stable behind the store was large enough for two milking cows, and he rented farmland south of Sunderland. That property would much later become associated with the notorious Piggyland scheme of the early 1960s.

The next generation continued the family business when Ralph Pinkham took over around 1943. He operated it until 1969, when John Thorne came to Sunderland to assume the undertaking business.

In 1973, the funeral business became Thorne Memorial Chapel. Subsequent changes to the neighbouring properties separated the funeral home from the former Pinkham building, which eventually became part of the hardware and furniture business operated by the Pilgrim family.

The history of 96 River Street recalls an era when the village furniture maker might also build a family’s coffin, arrange the funeral and provide many of the furnishings found in the homes of the people he served.