Funeral ledgers discovered beneath Hurst’s Fielder-Baker Funeral Home, in July 2024. They have been digitized and are now accessible through UNT’s Portal to Texas History. Courtesy photo
For more than a century, the names of North Texas residents recorded in fragile funeral ledgers remained largely unseen.
Now, after an unexpected discovery beneath a local funeral home and more than a year of careful preservation work, those historic records are available for anyone to explore online.
The Farmersville Historical Society announced Friday, March 13, that the long-lost Neathery funeral ledger books — dating from the late 1800s through the early 20th century — have been digitized and are now accessible through the Portal to Texas History, an online archive managed by the University of North Texas.
The discovery began in July 2024 when plumbing work beneath Hurst’s Fielder-Baker Funeral Home revealed an old well containing some antique bottles. While exploring the area, funeral director Molly Shipwash discovered several fragile record books in a nearby pile of rubble — ledgers documenting decades of death records. She later contacted Farmersville Historical Society President Heidi Foist, who accessioned the materials into the society’s collection.
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