Herbert Winaut (d. 1947)

Herbert Winaut was originally from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. He arrived in the Yukon in the early 1900s. He worked as a carpenter in Dawson and did some placer mining around 1918. Around 1921, Winaut and his Australian business partner, Elvin James Edwards (1867 - 1935), purchased Lowe’s Mortuary from Frank Lowe. The business was started around 1901 by J.A. Greene, and was purchased by Lowe around 1907. Edwards and Winaut operated a furniture store as a joint effort, Edwards ran the mortuary, and they also had “Winaut's Hall.” Winaut made the wooden grave markers, and may have kept the mortuary records as well, while Edwards acted as undertaker. After Edwards died, Winaut purchased the funeral home for $3,500 and operated it until about 1938 when he sold to Alex Wark. Winaut retained the mortuary records, which were found in his store in 1942. The Dawson Museum hold the Winaut’s mortuary fonds, a very valuable record of a long-standing Dawson business.¹⁾