From its humble beginnings in a wood shop in Academia, Juniata County to its two locations that serve all of Juniata County, the Brown Funeral Homes, Inc., has continued to provide the people of Juniata County with a high quality of service and attention to detail. As it was, cabinet making and the funeral industry often found themselves thrust together out of necessity. Brown, took over running the business in 1870. Nineteen eighteen saw a third generation of the Brown family take over the funeral business. Brown's three sons assumed the direction of the funeral home, Joseph S. Brown, who later became a medical doctor, D. Paul Brown, who helped run the business until dying at an early age, and R. Bradford Brown, Sr. Nineteen eighteen also saw a change in location for the funeral home. and son R. Bradford, Sr. purchased the Snyder Undertaking and Furniture Co., and moved the business from Academia to Main St., Mifflintown. After Roland H. Brown's death in 1934, R. assumed sole responsibility for the funeral home. eventually moved from the furniture business to opening an ambulance service, which he operated from the late 1930's until about 1950. The funeral business again, passed to the next generation in 1962, when R. Bradford Brown, Jr. took over the business. With the closing of the Ambulance business the focus turned to the Funeral Home and its passage to the next generation. assumed control of the now more than a century old family business in 1962, located at its current location. In continuing with the Brown family tradition, Daniel B. Brown, the fifth and current generation, took over the business in 1989. In the twenty-seven years that Dan has owned the funeral home, he has made many changes, including adding a branch funeral home in McAlisterville. In October of 2001, Daniel Brown purchased the former Clair C. Stuck Funeral Home in McAlisterville from Ronald C. Sheaffer, who operated the funeral home from 1992 until October of 2001. The McAlisterville funeral home, has a long history itself, starting in Cocolamus until moving to its present location in the early 1930's. Clair C. Stuck owned and operated the funeral home until 1972, when Kenneth Yeisley purchased the long-time family business from Clair. From Yeisley, the funeral home passed to Ronald Sheaffer in 1992. Now, with the funeral homes in Mifflintown and McAlisterville, the Brown family's long tradition of serving grieving families, will continue throughout Juniata County and its surrounding areas.
