David H. Decker & Jeremiah Decker establish the funeral firm in 1850 located at the corner of Genesee and Mill Streets opposite Beard Hotel (present day Genesee Street at the top of the bridge). They were primarily furniture crafters which in those days included coffins. As the community developed they “undertook” to provide other services for families in the area– livery and hearse service, mourning crepe and flowers, chairs and other various items needed to conduct funerals from the family home.
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Decker & Knapp Genesse St. left at Mill St. (Right) |
Knapp Furniture looking west down Genesee St. |
Henry J. Knapp, a veteran of the Civil War achieving the rank of captain, purchases David Decker’s interest in 1869; he becomes sole owner in 1883. He expands the furniture and undertaking firm and becomes a prominent business proprietor by the turn of the twentieth century.
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Chester R. Eaton, a native of Chittenango purchases the funeral home in 1910 and conducts funerals from his parlor in a building on Mill Street (present day Brooklea Drive) just across the street from the Fayetteville Village Inn. |
C.R Eaton Funeral Director Mill Street |
C.R. Eaton Funeral Chapel |
C.R. Eaton Furniture Store |
Eagle Bulletin ad circa 1941 |
He also maintains a furniture store in lower Fayetteville (the current Pasquales Building). Selden E. Tubbs, a native of Manlius, joins Chet, his father-in-law, in 1946 shortly after returning from service in World War II. The firm moves to Mr. Eaton’s residence at 130 East Genesee Street creating the Eaton-Tubbs Funeral Home in 1950.
After many years of faithful service to the community, Selden retires in 1986. The funeral home is now owned by the Schepp family who constructed a new facility in 1992 to serve the community. |