Haverhill lost its oldest funeral business, Dole Childs & Shaw Funeral Home and Cremation Service this summer with the retirement of owner David E. Shaw.
The 148 Main St business was not only Haverhill’s first undertaking concern, it was also the first to expand to a space large enough to accommodate wakes and funerals, rather than just embalming and preparing the deceased for burial.
Patrick J. Driscoll confirmed for WHAV his Driscoll Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Bradford has assumed outstanding business Shaw had booked by the time of his retirement.
The funeral business itself was established in 1839 when two brothers-in-law, John P. Randall and Joseph H. Cummings, opened a furniture business that included the sale of burial coffins, according to the history on the company’s former website. The pair relocated their business, J. H. Cummings Furnishing Coffins, to a Main Street storefront in 1882 and then sold the business in 1886 to prominent banker George H. Dole and stable owner Fred G. Richards, who later was elected mayor of Haverhill. The new owners changed the name to Richards & Dole. Richards continued to run his stable which offered coaches, hacks and carriages for hire and accommodations for boarding 100 horses. Richards died in 1895, prompting Dole to invite George H. Childs, an employee of four years, to come into the business. The name then became Dole & Childs Funeral Home.
Earle W. Graffam, who became a partner following his return from World War I, is credited with transitioning the business to a more modern approach. He and his new partner, George L. Riley, acquired the Knights of Columbus building in 1932, originally known as the Rufus Chase House. The gracious, four-story Victorian on Main Street, opposite what is now Haverhill City Hall, was large enough to allow the home to provide receptions along with undertaking. Rather than just taking care of the deceased, funeral businesses were beginning to provide attractive spaces outfitted like living rooms large enough so that families could congregate with friends for wakes and the funeral service itself. Dole & Childs was the first funeral business in Haverhill to offer the combined services.
Wesley J. Shaw Jr. and H. Lee Powell joined the funeral business following Graffam’s death in 1953 and Riley’s retirement. During the early 1980s, the business then recorded its final name change, adding Shaw. David E. Shaw later joined his father in the business.
Rufus Chase House was built in 1879 by Chase for his family. He was one of Haverhill’s early shoe manufacturers. His stick-style house with its distinctive decorative boards on the exterior was designed by C. Willis Damon, a prominent Haverhill architect who also designed Winnekenni Castle. The interior woodwork and main staircase were crafted by Italian artisans imported for the project, according to notes in the Haverhill Public Library’s archives. The Haverhill Knights of Columbus acquired the Rufus Chase House in the early 1900s to use as the club’s headquarters.