Diuguid Ad c1908ABOUT THE RECORDS
About Diuguid

Diuguid Funeral Home began in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1817 as Winston & Diuguid, a small furniture-making business whose products included coffins. The business thrived and gradually transitioned from cabinet-making and carpentry to undertaking and embalming. For much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Diuguid was an influential and innovative leader in the funeral industry in Virginia.

Although no longer family owned, Diuguid still operates two funeral homes in Lynchburg today. The company's longevity has earned it several superlatives:

  • oldest "institution" in Lynchburg
  • second oldest funeral home in Virginia
  • one of the oldest mortuaries in the nation

Timeline of Diuguid's History

1817Sampson Diuguid and Alanson Winston opened a furniture-making shop at 616 Main Street in Lynchburg. Coffins were only a small part of their business.
 
c.1825Diuguid and Winston dissolved their partnership for unknown reasons.
 
c.1850Sampson Diuguid entered into partnership with his sons David and George under the title "S. Diuguid & Sons."
 
1856Sampson Diuguid died, leaving the family business to his sons David and George. The firm operated as "D. P. & G. A. Diuguid."
 
1864David P. Diuguid died, leaving his brother George as the sole proprietor of the business.

A few months later the Confederate government attempted to draft George Diuguid into the Army. Citizens protested, and he was exempted as the only undertaker in Lynchburg.
 
1880George Diuguid and his son William became partners under the title "G. A. Diuguid & Son." At that time the business stock included 32 metal caskets, 142 "ready made" wood coffins, 4 hearses, and 3 horses.
 
1893George A. Diuguid died, leaving the funeral business to his son William D. Diuguid.
 
1922Diuguid Funeral Home was officially incorporated as "W. D. Diuguid, Inc."
 
1927William D. Diuguid died after 59 years in the family business. His daughter Mary Sampson Diuguid became president of the company.
 
1931Diuguid moved from 616 Main Street to 1016 Rivermont Avenue.
 
1946Mary Sampson Diuguid sold the family business to employees John C. and W. Ford McKee.
 
1998Diuguid moved from Rivermont Avenue to a new "chapel" on Wiggington Road.
 
2005Diuguid permanently loaned its complete archive of burial records to the Southern Memorial Association, a non-profit organization that manages Lynchburg's Old City Cemetery.