Bythewood Funeral Home

Death is a universal experience that everyone living on this earth will go through. It is also a life situation of dealing with mourning and burial rituals of loved ones and that is what Bythewood Funeral Home did for a very long time. Following the Civil War, formerly enslaved people and their descendants were excluded from a spectrum of trades, and higher education remained largely out of reach. One notable exception was the profession of mortician, a specialized field for African Americans that thrived despite a culture of racial division. Concerns about how Black bodies were laid to rest by white undertakers fueled African Americans’ desire to have their family members buried by Black undertakers. They believed they would bury their dead with care and dignity. A willingness to meet this community need while earning a comfortable living led entrepreneurs to the funeral business.

At the turn of the 20th century, Black churches began forming burial societies that collected money from church members to pay for their funerals, coffins, and graves. These burial societies became a forerunner to pre-need funeral plans, where people pay monthly in advance for a funeral. Since there was money to support these businesses, African American-owned funeral homes began opening their doors around this time.

Alton Elvin (A. E.) Bythewood, the son of William and Mary Bythewood, was born on February 1, 1876, in the Beaufort Township of Beaufort County, South Carolina. His father was a carpenter in Beaufort. In 1906, Alton married Felicia Annette Sasportas in Orangeburg at Trinity M.E. Church. The couple had three children: Alton Elvin Jr., Thaddeus Kinloch (T. K.), and Mary Lou. Before Bythewood Funeral Home was founded, A. E. Bythewood worked at the white-owned Dukes Undertaking business. Dukes was founded in 1896 in Orangeburg when there were no Black funeral homes. This is how A. E. Bythewood received his training. In 1930, after Clifton and I.S. Harley joined Hampy Dukes, the business became Dukes-Harley Funeral Home.

In 1907, a year after getting married, A. E. Bythewood started Bythewood and Ballard Funeral Home in Orangeburg in a small wooden building on its present site, the corner of West Amelia and North Middleton streets. This building was destroyed by fire and replaced with the present large two-story brick structure in 1917. The huge building occupied by the Bythewood Funeral Home contains a double lobby, office, family room, display room, slumber room, preparation room and storeroom. Besides those special rooms, there is a large chapel. A home like atmosphere prevails throughout the building. The motor equipment included two hearses, two family cars, and an ambulance.

In 1919, the funeral business was taken over completely by A. E. Bythewood. Under his direction, the funeral business grew into one of the largest Black mortuary establishments in the lower part of the state. In 1923, further expansion of the funeral home required more building space, and an addition was built on to the rear of the building. On the first floor, funerals were held. The second-floor space was known as Bythewood Hall. This area was for parties, receptions, meetings, and all other types of events that African American groups sponsored. Mr. Bythewood served as Treasurer and Cemetery Manager of the Orangeburg Cemetery Association and the Burial Society for many years.

Alton’s second son, T.K. joined the family mortuary business as an embalmer and funeral director after graduating from Claflin College in 1930. He married Emilie K. Green soon after. Prior to their marriage, she worked at Fielding Home for Funeral in Charleston and taught in the public school system in Charleston. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from what is now South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. Emilie helped her husband in their funeral home business. They had two children together, a daughter Alvan E., and a son Thaddeus K. Bythewood, Jr. Both of their children graduated from Claflin College.

By the 1930s, Bythewood Funeral Home was so well known that many of their calls came from as far away as 50 miles in any direction outside of Orangeburg. With their reputation well established, Bythewood Funeral Home received a national rating and recognition whereby they could arrange to have bodies shipped from every part of the country for burial in Orangeburg, with all arrangements made for embalming and services to be conducted in the city when the body arrives.

On September 6, 1937, Alton Elvin Bythewood, Sr. died at the age of 61. His funeral was held two days later at Trinity M.E. Church and was buried in the Bythewood Family Plot in the Orangeburg Cemetery. After the death of A.E., T. K. Bythewood took over the family business and ran it the same way as his father had done for 30 years. From 1937 until his own death, T.K. Bythewood continued operating Bythewood Funeral Home. For 52 years, he was the owner and operator of the business. He also took over the management of the cemetery. At the time of his father’s death, T. K. was a member of the Claflin College Board of Trustees. In the book, “On a Hilltop High – The Origin and History of Claflin College to 1984,” by Blinzy Gore, T.K. said “that by 1923 nearly every student at Claflin University owned a violin.”

In August 1942, the local newspaper printed “Mock Air Raid Program Is Approved Last Night – The tentative program for the Civilian Defense Demonstration to be staged on the football field at the county fairgrounds next Tuesday evening, was given approval at a staff meeting last night. It is announced that this demonstration will be staged entirely for the white residents of the city and for the white members of the Civilian Defense organization. This is being done at the suggestion of T.K. Bythewood, temporarily at the head of the Negro Civilian Defense activities in the city just at this time.”

Although the Bythewood family’s complexion was so close to being white, the family and the Black community knew and understood the conditions and position of life in which they lived and operated. T.K. became more involved with the involvement of Blacks in Orangeburg when it came to public information. He spoke up for any and all matters that the Black community should be concerned with. He was also fully aware of his position when it came to the African American community of Orangeburg, especially during the civil rights movement. In 1963, was one of the first to advocate complete integrated opening of the state parks.

From the time that the business was started, Bythewood Funeral Home and all of the funeral homes in Orangeburg provided an ambulance and funeral services with their cars. In February 1969, the provision of an ambulance was discontinued, and the service was shifted to county and city governments. T. K. told the Orangeburg delegation that “the ambulance service was rendered as ‘public service.’ He said, ‘his firm received between 150 to 200 ambulance calls a year, with only 25% being for emergency purposes.” The ambulance service by the funeral homes was discontinued throughout the county after May 1, 1969. Today, this service is known as EMS.

Thaddeus K. Bythewood, Sr. died on January 26, 1989, at the age of 79. He is buried in the Bythewood Family Plot at Orangeburg Cemetery. His death was considered a huge loss to the city of Orangeburg. As a 47-year trustee of Claflin College, many of his efforts were tied to his commitment to the United Methodist Church. Mr. Bythewood was a life member of Trinity United Methodist, where he taught adult Bible Sunday school class. He also served as the role of guest teacher for other churches. In the governmental arena, he played a role in Orangeburg’s growth as a former chairman of the city planning commission, serving 17 years on the panel. T. K. Bythewood was considered by many to be a voice of reason, a wise counsel. He was in demand as a church and public speaker. His wisdom helped bring Orangeburg through the difficult period of race relations that followed the 1968 shooting deaths of three students at South Carolina State College. He worked for and lived to see a better day.

On February 5, 1989, the successor to the Bythewood Funeral Home was announced. From 1989 until his death on Oct. 22, 2018, John Lessane operated the Bythewood Funeral Home in the same manner as the original owners, A.E. and T.K. Bythewood. For nearly 30 years, Lessane carried on the business and served the folks in Orangeburg in the same way A.E. and T.K. had done during their time. During this time, he buried his wife and their twin adult children, who worked with him at Bythewood. The last funeral held at Bythewood Funeral Home was for John Lessane. The business closed after his death. Although several years have passed since the closure of the funeral home, pamphlets from his funeral remain in the chapel. At the time of closing, Bythewood Funeral Home had been in operation for 11 years and was the oldest funeral home in Orangeburg County.

The wife of T.K., Mrs. Emilie Bythewood, died in 1997 in Orangeburg. She helped T. K. with the funeral home for many years and was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Thaddeus K. Bythewood Jr. died in Ft. Myers, Florida, on Nov. 20, 2018. He was funeralized here in Orangeburg at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, with the burial taking place at the Orangeburg Cemetery. Alvan E. is the last of T.K.’s children still living. She lives in Florida.

In April 2023, local news reported that the closed Bythewood Funeral Home had been burglarized. The building’s caretaker believes the burglary occurred in March 2023. However, some of the items that she discovered missing were gone when I photographed the building a year earlier. Someone stole more than $80,000 worth of items including a 1964 Cadillac hearse from the garage. Other items include four caskets valued at $40,000, four removal cots valued at $7,200 and $8,000 worth of embalming equipment: including $3,000 worth of embalming chemicals, a $3,000 embalming machine, and $2,000 worth of instruments. Additional missing items include funeral tents, five church truck trollies, personal protective equipment, dressing tables, stationary equipment, men’s ties, and toilet paper. Orangeburg Police currently say they don’t have any information on a suspect. Anyone who sees the stolen items or has information should call the police or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-Crime-SC. Bythewood Funeral Home is currently for sale for $75,000.

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