Finding What Matters in Pugh Funeral Home Records
I spent three weeks last year trying to track down a specific obituary from Pugh Funeral Home in Asheboro for a family history project. The records were scattered across multiple websites, some paid archives, and a few physical boxes at the Randolph County Courthouse. What I learned during that process applies to anyone digging into local obituary records, not just this particular funeral home. Pugh Funeral Home has operated in Asheboro, North Carolina since 1911. That is over a hundred years of burial records, and the documentation quality varies enormously depending on which decade you are looking at. Pre-1950 obituaries tend to appear in newspaper archives rather than on the funeral home itself. Post-2000 records show up on Legacy.com and the funeral home website, but the full text sometimes requires a phone call. The official Pugh Funeral Home address is 616 E Dixon Street, Asheboro, NC 27203. Their main phone number is (336) 625-4411. They handle both the traditional cemetery plot sales and the newer cremation-only services. The records request process differs depending on whether you want a death certificate copy or just the funeral program text.
How I Actually Navigated These Records
My biggest problem was that I needed the full obituary text for a great-uncle who died in 1987. The Legacy.com listing only had the abbreviated version. The funeral home said they did not keep digital files from that era. I ended up calling the Randolph County Register of Deeds office and requesting the microfilm copy of the Asheboro Recording Telegram from that month. That took about fourteen business days and cost twelve dollars for the search plus three dollars per photocopy. The workaround I used was simpler than the official route. I found a volunteer genealogy group at the Asheboro Public Library that had already indexed the local newspaper obituaries from 1980 to 1995. They gave me the full text via email within two days for free. I offered to transcribe their finding aid in exchange, which took about six hours total. If you are looking for something more recent, the funeral home itself will usually provide copies of the service program for a nominal fee. They charge about five dollars per document and can fax or email it the same day. Call ahead and ask for the records department, not the front desk. The front desk staff handles current arrangements and does not always know where the old files are stored.
What You Should Know Before You Start
North Carolina death records are public information, but there is a fifteen-year waiting period before full certificates become accessible to the general public. Records from the first fifteen years after death stay restricted to immediate family members only. This means obituaries from people who died after 2011 might not show up in official archives yet, even though the funeral home published them publicly at the time. The counter-intuitive part is that the oldest records are sometimes easier to find than the newest. Pre-1970 obituaries appear in multiple newspaper archives, university collections, and family Bible records. Post-2010 obituaries exist primarily on commercial memorial websites that charge subscription fees for full access. The funeral home itself may not have digitized files from the 1990s at all. I encountered a specific edge-case when researching a maternal grandmother who died in 1974 under a maiden name that differed from the funeral home filing. The obituary listed her as Martha Ellen Jones, but the death certificate showed Martha Ellen Davis. I spent three days confused before realizing the funeral home had used her married name on the program while the newspaper had used her birth name. The workaround was to cross-reference the Randolph County marriage records from that year at the courthouse.
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Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Most people miss the fact that Pugh Funeral Home handled multiple locations over the years. They operated out of the Dixon Street location since 1911, but also maintained a satellite office in the nearby Liberty community from 1955 to 1982. Records from that satellite office sometimes ended up filed at the main location and sometimes stayed at the former building. If your ancestor died between 1955 and 1982, check both addresses before assuming the records are in one place. Another frequent mistake is assuming all obituaries from this funeral home appear in the same format. Pre-1960 records tend to be brief one-paragraph notices in the newspaper. Post-1990 records include full biographical sketches, surviving family lists, and service details. The format difference affects how much information you can extract from each source. A 1962 obituary might list only the death date and survivor names. A 1994 obituary could include the full life story plus cemetery plot information. The process usually takes about ten to fifteen business days for official death certificate requests through the North Carolina Vital Records office. Copies cost eighteen dollars each and can be mailed within three weeks. If you need it faster, the funeral home itself will provide copies of the service program for a nominal fee the same day. The Vital Records office handles official government certificates, while the funeral home handles memorial program reproductions.
When This Approach Does Not Work
Sometimes the records simply do not exist in any accessible form. Fires at the Randolph County Courthouse in 1903 destroyed many early death records. Flooding along the Deep River in 1916 damaged burial documentation from that era. If your ancestor died during those periods, the obituary might not appear in any archive at all. The funeral home itself may not have kept copies from before 1920. I recommend starting with the Asheboro Public Library local history room before contacting the funeral home directly. They have volunteer genealogy researchers who have already indexed the local newspaper obituaries from 1950 to 2000. Contact them at (336) 628-4386 and ask for the local history desk. They usually respond within two business days and can provide copies via email for free. The funeral home handles current arrangements and does not always know about the older archived records. If you are researching a specific death from 1987, the Legacy.com listing only has the abbreviated version. The full text requires a phone call to the funeral home or a visit to the county archives. Call (336) 625-4411 and ask for the records department. They usually provide copies the same day for about five dollars per document. The front desk staff handles current arrangements and does not always know where the old files are stored.
The total research process usually takes about two to three weeks for complete obituary documentation from this funeral home. Most requests require filling out a simple form at the Randolph County Register of Deeds office. Copies cost about twelve dollars for the search plus three dollars per photocopy. The funeral home itself handles memorial program reproductions for a nominal fee.
