BILL’S FAMILY
ANDERSON/WHEELER
CONCORD
The marriage of Leslie Anderson and Esther Wheeler (Bill’s parents) in 1920 linked a grocery business in the heart of Concord center with an established farm on the outskirts of town at Nine Acre Corner. As such, their story is part of the town’s history. Their way of life is a legacy that has been handed down generations in the Anderson family.
Esther Howe (Wheeler) Anderson, Bill’s mother, ran the Frank Wheeler Farm (See link below for more information.)
Leslie Oscar Anderson, Bill’s father, ran Anderson Market
(See link below for more information.)
The Delivery Fleet at L. Anderson and Son. Leslie Anderson, Bill’s father is on the right.
IN THE BEGINNING: THE WHEELERS (and brighams)
The Wheelers, like most of the first settlers of Concord in the early 1600’s, were a stalwart bunch. Many branches of the family farmed the land near White Pond and Nine Acre Corner, sinking deep roots. By the latter part of the nineteenth century, The Frank Wheeler Farm, located in the large yellow house and barn at the corner of Sudbury Road and Route 117, was a thriving truck farm and had earned a statewide reputation.
Frank was one of eight children who had grown up on the farm which was originally the Whipple Tavern. While his siblings pursued various careers (some became notable citizens of Concord: William Wheeler and Harvey Wheeler), Frank stayed put and managed the farm. He married Lucie Howe Brigham in 1988, the girl next door. The Brigham Farm (corner of Rte 117 and Garfield Road) is still run by family. As a wedding gift, Frank made Lucie a wooden feed box, inscribed on the back, and now a family treasure. The wonderful and practical personality of Lucie comes to light in a memoir written by one of her daughters, Eirene.
Frank and Lucie produced six girls and no sons. The childhood of the six Wheeler girls on the farm at the outskirts of Concord seems story book, like the March daughters from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. The adventures of the Wheeler girls in the early 1900’s is described in delightful detail in a memoir by one of the sisters, Eirene (Wheeler) Anderson: “Yesterday is Today’s Legacy.” (Follow the link below to “The Wheeler Sisters”)
Frank Wheeler, Esther’s father, Bill’s grandfather
Lucie Brigham Wheeler, Esther’s mother, Bill’s grandmother
The six daughters of Frank and Lucie Wheeler. Bill’s mother, Esther, is center left.
NEW TO TOWN: THE ANDERSONS
Norwegians flooded into the Concord area in the nineteenth century. Lars Anderson was among those who came from one small town north of Oslo called Loiten. After working at, buying and selling a business in Carlisle, he took a job in the general store in the center of Concord. Ultimately, to his own humble and grateful amazement, he purchased the building and the business which would become Anderson Market. More than a century later, that building, where Walden meets Main Street, is currently run by his great, great grandchildren as Main Streets Cafe.
Lars and his son Leslie worked together at the Market and the business grew. They were secure enough during the depression of the 1930’s to help out customers with debt leniency and bartering. Lars was considered an excellent and generous business man. The front page of the Concord Journal from 1936 is a must-read. (See link below.) The store had a reputation for quality produce and amassed an initial fleet of Model A delivery trucks which were repeatedly updated with current models. On a delivery errand to the Frank Wheeler Farm, Leslie Anderson met and, in 1920, married Esther Howe Wheeler. The young couple would move into the Frank Wheeler Farm which Esther managed after the death of her father.
Lars and Pauline Anderson, Leslie’s parents
NORWAY CONNECTION - ADD IMAGE OF THE NORWEGIAN FARM SEE LINKS FOR MORE ABOUT CONCORD NORWEGIANS