| 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. |
