T he Heslop Funeral Home originated in 1896 with its founder Robert Greenwood Heslop.


R.G.’s father and mother, Robert G. and Susanna Heslop, were born and married in England. They came to the United States in 1850 on a sailing vessel, following their marriage on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1850. His parents landed in New York City on May 6, 1850 and finally settled in Pomeroy, Ohio. In England his father was an undertaker by profession and made caskets by hand. R. G. was born November 9, 1858 in Pomeroy, Ohio.


In 1883 R. G. Heslop came from Pomeroy, Ohio to Martins Ferry on a river steamer. R.G. married Eleanor K. Beymer Heslop in 1888 and the two lived in a house on S. Fourth St. which eventually housed the former Heslop Furniture Store. Mr. Heslop worked in the Exley planing mill on First and Hanover Street where he did hand carving. R. G. learned the embalming profession with the Frank Zink firm, where he worked until the owner sold the business. In 1896 he launched his own business in the Henderson Building on Hanover St. and the name was changed to R. G. Heslop Furniture and Undertaking.