History of Symonds-Madison Funeral Home

The Symonds-Madison Funeral Home is a family-owned funeral home originally founded in downtown Elgin at 211 E Chicago St in 1921 under the name of Marsh & Conn Funeral Home. The funeral home then moved to 185 Dundee Road, which was previously known as the Barclay House.

David Barclay served as a four-term Mayor of Elgin, Illinois and worked as a dairy hardware dealer. After his death in 1912, the house lay empty for several years until Howard Conn rented the building in 1936 to convert it into a funeral home. Upon his death in 1936, Howard Conn’s son, also named Howard, ran the funeral home until 1949, purchasing the building in 1940. Howard later sold the funeral home to Erwin “Erv” Schmidt.

Schmidt served Elgin families until 1983, when he sold the funeral home to his employee, Yerry Madison. The funeral home was then known as Schmidt-Madison funeral home. Later it became Madison Funeral Home, and now Symonds-Madison Funeral Home.

The current owner, Daniel Symonds, is a second-generation funeral director and U.S. Army Reservist.  Daniel was given the opportunity to carry on the funeral home’s legacy of service to the Elgin Community in 2013.

David Barclay’s Home, circa 1920, Park St and Dundee Ave

Symonds-Madison Funeral Home, formally Schmidt Funeral Home, circa 1960