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An Old Friend has a New Look
Sometimes that old suit
you like so much just has to go. You're still the same but your look has changed.
Like an old friend with a new suit,
our look is changing, but our service is still old fashioned and very friendly. It's been that way since 1910.
You'll see in our logo two interwoven letter J's,
which combine to form a letter S. This readily calls to mind the J & J Spratt name. Now look again. The J's are designed to look like fish - a Sprat to be specific. This is a reminder of our Irish heritage and a notice of our commitment to traditional, time-honored family values.
You will be seeing this new look in our logo, signs, stationery and advertising. It's a promise of old fashioned courtesy with dignity and compassion.
Yes, we're still the same
- It's just a new look for an old friend.
Jay Daniel Spratt, Supervisor, FD
Joseph M. Spratt, FD, ESQ
1612 Third Avenue 724-843-1050
New Brighton, PA 15066
History of Our Home
Our home has been in the Spratt family since 1948, which seems a very short time when compared to the fact that our home is over 163 years old. The house was built in 1835,
by Robert and Deborah (Colman) Townsend. Robert was the founder of the former Townsend Company in Fallston, which he established in 1828 after moving to New
Brighton from Pittsburgh. After his death the home was owned by his descendants for four generations, son, William Penn Townsend, grandson, Edward Payson Townsend,
great-grandson, Edward Critchlow Townsend, and great-great granddaughter, Betty Townsend Brosh. On January 2, 1948, Mrs. Brosh and her husband Carl, sold the home
and many of it's contents to Julia (Mack) Spratt and her children Joseph Jr., John, Mary Dean, Julia and James. Julia was the widow of the late Joseph J. Spratt and Brother
Funeral Homes and passed away on January 10, 1945. This was the beginning of the J. Spratt Funeral Home. Upon her death March 29, 1957, the home was left to her children.
It then became known as the J. & J. Spratt Funeral Home, under the management of her sons, John M. and James P. Spratt.The home consists of four floors, 27 rooms, and five baths. The carriage house, with
former servants quarters and stables, were located next door, and now consist of office space, garages, and a four-bedroom apartment on the second floor. There have been quite a few stories handed down through the generations of the home's history. The house is said to have been a stop on the Underground
Railroad for escaped slaves on their way north to Canada during the Civil War years. Much of the lumber for the construction of the house was logged in the Allegheny National Forest area, floated down the Allegheny and
Ohio rivers and then up the Beaver river to the property which at the time extended to the river and Erie Canal. The home was one of the first to have electric lighting. Power was carried across the river from the water
powered generators at the mill, and in the evening when work stopped Mr. Townsend would use the power to light his home. Many of the gas fixtures remain in use today with wires drawn through the gas lines.
The saying goes, "if these walls could only talk," well if they would we could all sit for a while, to listen and learn about the history. Not only for our first fifty years, but also for
the other one hundred and thirteen years before we took possession of what we believe to be one of the most splendid homes in the area. The Spratt Family |
