C. W. Hartlen's Funeral Parlour, Milton, Nova Scotia

C. W. Hartlen with his horse driven herse

For most of us, Chandlers Funeral Home in Liverpool is the only Funeral Home we've ever known to be in Queens County. However, during the days of my grandmother (who grew up in Milton in the 1920s), there was also a small funeral home in Milton. Claude W. Hartlen owned and operated a funeral parlour in the area where the Milton Canoe and Camera Club building is presently located. He began the business in the late 1890s and operated it for 30 years, retiring around 1928. Around that time he sold the business to Bruce Chandler who had it for 3 years before going into partnership with Liverpool Funeral Home owner Edgar Wright. They formed Wright and Chandler which today we know as just Chandlers Funeral Home. C.W. Hartlen's funeral home building was destroyed in the 1931 Milton fire, which also destroyed a few other buildings on Milton Corner where the Masonic Hall, Canoe and Camera Club and the Rogers Market building are now located. I remember my grandmother sharing a story about Hartlen's Funeral Home. In 1927, her uncle Dave Berriman from Tupper Street, died after a mill accident in Milton. Nan said she remembered her uncle was taken to Bridgewater hospital after the accident where he later died. Mr Hartlen went to Bridgewater to pick up the body and nan's uncle Dave's funeral was through C. W. Hartlen's Funeral Home.