Williamson County Historical Society

Franklin & Williamson County Funeral Notices

Before Franklin had a daily newspaper, the best way to notify the community of a death was circulating funeral notices. In Franklin, The Review-Appeal and the Williamson County News only came out on Thursdays making it untimely for family and friends to receive news of a death and the arrangements for the funeral. To remedy that problem, handbills were printed by the newspapers in the form of black-bordered notices stating the date of death, time and location of the funeral, and the place of interment. These handbills were distributed on the street and delivered door-to-door through-out the community.

Rick Warwick began collecting local funeral notices several years ago. Of the over 350 funeral notices offered on the Williamson County Historical Society website, it should be noted that Mary Montgomery Watson has included 150 notices from the Crockett-Parkes-Montgomery family collection. These funeral notices may prove helpful for researchers and genealogists in discovering the death of a relative and the place of burial, not found in a published obituary or death certificate.