25 Weybridge Road

25 Weybridge Road was the home at first of Josephine Flanders, her sons Lewis and Talbot, and Lewis's wife Lela. The family moved here from 49 Longwood Avenue.

Josephine Flanders (born 1856) was the widow of Albert Flanders, president of Lewis Flanders & Co., a trucking company established by his father in the 1850s (at a time when truckers, of course, moved goods by horse and wagon). Albert Flanders died in 1929, shortly before the family moved to Weybridge Road.

Josephine and Albert's son Lewis (born c1888) took over from his father as president of the trucking business. Lela Flanders (born 1897 in Canada), to whom he was married in 1929, was Lewis' second wife. He was married previously in 1912 to a wealthy widow, 12 years his senior, who lived near the Flanders family on Longwood Avenue.

Lewis Flanders' younger brother Talbot (1890-1973) was listed as a telephone engineer in the Street List and the 1930 U.S. Census. Earlier, he had been a mechanical engineer with the Edison Electric Company in Boston.

The 1930 U.S. Census listed the residents as: Josephine M. Flanders, 73; Lewis Flanders, 42, president (transportation company); Lela J. Flanders, 31 (daughter-in-law), born Canada; Talbot Flanders, 40, engineer (telephone); and Dora Mattocks, 44, servant, born Canada.

The Flanders family was listed at 25 Weybridge Road from 1930 to 1935.

The next residents were Frank C. and Katherine G. Fellows, along with Phyllis Glenister and Harrison L. Benson, all of whom moved here from another Blake Park house at 78 Stanton Road. Frank Fellows (born 1874) was the owner of a ladder company. His wife Katherine was born in England c1882 and came to the U.S. in 1890. Harrison Benson was born in Canada c1897 and came to the U.S. in 1902. He was listed as an attendant at 78 Stanton and as a salesman at this address. Phyllis Glenister (born c1913) was listed as a secretary.

It is unclear what the relationship was between the Fellows and Benson and Glenister. Katherine Fellows was listed at this address from 1936 to 1941. Frank Fellows and Benson were listed in 1936 and 1937 only. Phyllis Glenister was listed from 1936 to 1938 and again, as Phyllis G. Stewart, in 1941 and (without Katherine Fellows) in 1942. The only constant for the years this family was here (1936-1942) was the same Irish maid, Margaret Flynn. My best guess is that Katherine G. Fellows and Phyllis G. Stewart were sisters.

No one was listed at this address in 1943. The next residents were Vincent, Gwendolyn and Eric Rice. Vincent Donald Rice (incorrectly listed as Donald V. Rice in the Street List) was born in the Britsh West Indies in 1874 and came to the U.S. in 1905. He was a retired electric company clerk at the time he moved here from Roslindale. His son Eric (1909-1981), who moved with him from Roslindale, worked in a bank. He was listed here in 1944 and 1945. Gwendolyn Rice (born c1877), who lived in Attleboro before moving here, may have been Vincent Rice's sister. She was a nurse.

Members of the Rice family were listed at this address from 1944 until the early 1950s.