Our Story

Learn our story, from the beginning and into the future.

The history and legacy of the Watson Family and Watson Funeral Home & Crematorium began in the 1830’s when Paynter Frame Watson and his wife Anna Moor Watson founded the “P. F. Watson Carriage, Harness & Tack, Furniture, Cabinet Making and Undertaking” business in Centerville, Baltimore Hundred, Delaware.  This town is now known as Roxana, Delaware.

They had a son, Henry H. Watson, who expanded the Undertaking Business and served as a Union Soldier (discharged as a Sergeant) in the Civil War. The business moved to Selbyville, Delaware after 1872 to be near the new train station as caskets were being commercially made and could be shipped from Philadelphia by train.

By the late 1800’s, Henry’s sons, Medford L. Watson Sr., Adolphus H. Watson, Pashur W. Watson, Sr., and Paynter F. Watson as well as his Grandsons, Henry H. Watson and Clinton H Watson established new locations in other communities as the new trend in mortuary care moved toward having Funeral Homes, rather than all the services being provided by Undertakers at the decedent’s home or at a church.  Henry’s sons and grandsons built Undertaking businesses in Selbyville, Frankford, Seaford, Delaware and in Pocomoke City, Maryland.

An unforeseen hardship occurred in December 1936, when Henry’s son, Pashur W. Watson, Sr. was killed by a drunk driver while making a removal from Delaware Hospital in Wilmington, leading to his son Pashur W. Jr. and his wife Alberta to completely take over operations of the Henry H. Watson Funeral Home & Crematorium and the Watson (Burial) Vault Company in Selbyville, Delaware.

In 1965, their son Richard T. Watson, Sr. graduated from the Eckels College of Mortuary Service in Philadelphia, joined with them in operating the Selbyville location, and also assisted the founders of James Funeral Home in Millsboro, Ronald and Gladys James, with the operation of that funeral home eventually purchasing and carrying the name James and Watson Funeral Home & Crematorium.  The Selbyville and Millsboro funeral homes were consolidated in Millsboro as Watson Funeral Home & Crematorium, Inc. Richard and Carol Watson successfully expanded the business over the next three decades.

Richard and Carol Watson retired in 2005 after 36 years of funeral service in Millsboro. Their son, Richard T. Watson, Jr and his wife Tia, brought in a business partner, Robert L. Herrington, Jr., and they became the Sixth Generation of the Watson Funeral Home. Thus began an extensive period of renovation, modernization, equipment replacement, implementation of a state-of-the-art computer system, staffing upgrades and OSHA safety standards compliance. 

Today the funeral directors and staff of Watson Funeral Home & Crematorium carry on the traditions of caring for families who have lost a loved one, as has been done by Watson family members for over 190 years. They look forward to what will become the future of the Watson Legacy as new trends emerge in funeral service delivery and new ways of rendering funeral services evolve going forward.

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