For Lisa in PA, You asked about Stewart & Mowen funeral home. This was discussed last year on the Baltimore City mail list. Read all the way down Gary's info and for for Mary's discussion with Ronald Grayson, the last operator of a funeral home at the old Stewart & Mowen building on North Avenue. While Grayson's name was still on the building when I rode by it last year, I'm not sure he is still holding funerals from there. It is in a pretty bad area and he has at least one other facility, I think out around Pikesville or Reisterstown. Unless these records are found in somebody's attic, they are probably lost. John -----Original Message----- From: g.ruppert@worldnet.att.net [mailto:g.ruppert@att.net] Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 9:25 PM To: MD-BaltimoreCity-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [MD-BaltimoreCity] Re:Stewart & Mowen funeral home Hi Mary: I was also interested in the records of Stewart and Moen a few years ago. This was shortly after they disappeared from the city directories and presumably had closed the business. I contacted the Maryland State Board of Funeral Directors. There was no response. Unfortunately, your experience, especially in regard to those who may have had some control over the fate of those records, is not atypical. To my knowledge the few surviving records of defunct Baltimore undertakers have been archived mostly by serendipity (Tickner, Mears and John F. Denny are the only ones that I know of). The Maryland State Board of Funeral Directors (or whatever the current name) is not really interested in getting involved with disposition of records from private businesses. Of course this is the key ... these are PRIVATE businesses and they may do with their records pretty much what they want. The records of Henry Sander and Son are a case in point. As recently as the 1980s, it was reported that there was a complete run of ledgers from the 1860s. Unfortunately, after the home was closed, those records mostly disappeared (a few of the more recent ones ended up in Damascus, MD with another undertaker). By the way, Stewart and Moen began business in the 19th century and had registers starting with 1870. This information is from the 1981 publication of "Records of Baltimore's Private Organizations" by University of Baltimore Educational Foundation. Recently, I've noticed that the Jenkins funeral home is out of business. This was the oldest in Baltimore, founded in the late 18th century. There is another undertaker on the same premises, but I have no idea if those records still exist. It is very frustrating, but I'm not so sure if the situation will ever change. In the 1980s, the Maryland Genealogical Society undertook a survey of all of the existing undertakers in the Baltimore Metropolitan area. Quite a number responded that they would allow access to their records for research and even a few were willing to have their records transcribed. Unfortunately, lawyers from the the Maryland State Board of Funeral Directors stepped in and suggested this was not a good idea. The bottom line from that survey is that at least we have a listing from some establishments of what was available. Those survey questionaires are filed at the Maryland Historical Society Library in the Diehlman file. One other thing that came out of that survey is that the records of a few former businesses were in the hands of successors. Gary 28 February 2005 Baltimore http://home.att.net/~g.ruppert Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 14:04:33 EST From: Macago@aol.com To: MD-BaltimoreCity-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <1e2.36824fe4.2f54c541@aol.com> Subject: Stewart & Mowen funeral home Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Hi everyone, For a long time now I have been wanting to get in touch with Stewart & Mowen, the funeral home that is listed on my 3rd great grandfathers death cert. After several failed attempts, I finally made contact today with Ronald Grayson Funeral Home, who rents the building. Grayson had no idea about the old records and told me to call someone else. This man turned out to be the owner of the facility, who is a real estate investor. He claims never to of had the records. He claims never to have seen them. He claims if he had ever seen them he would of thrown them out because he has no interest in them. He told me the building had been renovated about 1982 when he bought it. He bought the building from one of the wives of Stewart & Mowen, & she was an eldery lady then & he suspects she has died. I told him the records should of been turned over to the MD Historical Society or the state archives in Annapolis. That is when he wanted to get off the phone. He didn't sound very nice or none to paitent with my questions. He told me I am the first person he ever talked to about wanting something from Stewart & Mowen. Needless to say I am real disappointed. Has anyone else tried to get records from Stewart & Mowen? Thanks, Mary looking for Alexander Hamill who died May 16, 1878 in Baltimore City ============================== Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx

John, Thanks for the information. I had found most of that information today while surfing the net, except for the part by Mary. If I remember correctly I think I saw it somewhere that the records for Stewart and Mowen can be found at the Maryland State Archives. I'll have to double check on that. Thanks again, Lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Siemon" <jsiemon@bcpl.net> To: <BALTGEN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 10:57 PM Subject: [BALTGEN-L] Re:Stewart & Mowen funeral home > For Lisa in PA, > You asked about Stewart & Mowen funeral home. This was discussed last > year > on the Baltimore City mail list. Read all the way down Gary's info and > for > for Mary's discussion with Ronald Grayson, the last operator of a funeral > home at the old Stewart & Mowen building on North Avenue. While Grayson's > name was still on the building when I rode by it last year, I'm not sure > he > is still holding funerals from there. It is in a pretty bad area and he > has > at least one other facility, I think out around Pikesville or > Reisterstown. > Unless these records are found in somebody's attic, they are probably > lost. > > John > > -----Original Message----- > From: g.ruppert@worldnet.att.net [mailto:g.ruppert@att.net] > Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 9:25 PM > To: MD-BaltimoreCity-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [MD-BaltimoreCity] Re:Stewart & Mowen funeral home > > Hi Mary: > > I was also interested in the records of Stewart and Moen a few years ago. > This was shortly after they disappeared from the city directories and > presumably had closed the business. I contacted the Maryland State Board > of > Funeral Directors. There was no response. > > Unfortunately, your experience, especially in regard to those who may have > had some control over the fate of those records, is not atypical. To my > knowledge the few surviving records of defunct Baltimore undertakers have > been archived mostly by serendipity (Tickner, Mears and John F. Denny are > the only ones that I know of). > > The Maryland State Board of Funeral Directors (or whatever the current > name) > is not really interested in getting involved with disposition of records > from private businesses. Of course this is the key ... these are PRIVATE > businesses and they may do with their records pretty much what they want. > > The records of Henry Sander and Son are a case in point. As recently as > the > 1980s, it was reported that there was a complete run of ledgers from the > 1860s. Unfortunately, after the home was closed, those records mostly > disappeared (a few of the more recent ones ended up in Damascus, MD with > another undertaker). > > By the way, Stewart and Moen began business in the 19th century and had > registers starting with 1870. This information is from the 1981 > publication > of "Records of Baltimore's Private Organizations" by University of > Baltimore > Educational Foundation. > > Recently, I've noticed that the Jenkins funeral home is out of business. > This was the oldest in Baltimore, founded in the late 18th century. There > is > another undertaker on the same premises, but I have no idea if those > records > still exist. > > It is very frustrating, but I'm not so sure if the situation will ever > change. In the 1980s, the Maryland Genealogical Society undertook a survey > of all of the existing undertakers in the Baltimore Metropolitan area. > Quite > a number responded that they would allow access to their records for > research and even a few were willing to have their records transcribed. > Unfortunately, lawyers from the the Maryland State Board of Funeral > Directors stepped in and suggested this was not a good idea. The bottom > line > from that survey is that at least we have a listing from some > establishments > of what was available. Those survey questionaires are filed at the > Maryland > Historical Society Library in the Diehlman file. One other thing that came > out of that survey is that the records of a few former businesses were in > the hands of successors. > > Gary > 28 February 2005 > Baltimore > http://home.att.net/~g.ruppert > > Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 14:04:33 EST > From: Macago@aol.com > To: MD-BaltimoreCity-L@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <1e2.36824fe4.2f54c541@aol.com> > Subject: Stewart & Mowen funeral home > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" > > Hi everyone, > For a long time now I have been wanting to get in touch with Stewart & > Mowen, > the funeral home that is listed on my 3rd great grandfathers death cert. > After several failed attempts, I finally made contact today with Ronald > Grayson > Funeral Home, who rents the building. > > Grayson had no idea about the old records and told me to call someone > else. > > This man turned out to be the owner of the facility, who is a real estate > investor. He claims never to of had the records. He claims never to have > seen > them. He claims if he had ever seen them he would of thrown them out > because he > has no interest in them. He told me the building had been renovated > about > 1982 when he bought it. He bought the building from one of the wives of > Stewart & Mowen, & she was an eldery lady then & he suspects she has died. > I > told > him the records should of been turned over to the MD Historical Society or > the > state archives in Annapolis. That is when he wanted to get off the phone. > He > didn't sound very nice or none to paitent with my questions. He told me I > am > > the first person he ever talked to about wanting something from Stewart & > Mowen. > > Needless to say I am real disappointed. Has anyone else tried to get > records > from Stewart & Mowen? > Thanks, > Mary > looking for Alexander Hamill who died May 16, 1878 in Baltimore City > > > ============================== > Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for > ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx > > > > > > ==== BALTGEN Mailing List ==== > The Baltimore County Genealogical Society web site: > http://www.serve.com/bcgs/bcgs.html >