People of Brookline


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Richard Harding Weld, 1882
1867 - 1920; married, 1919, Bertha Rinaldo Eldridge; parents: Richard Harding Weld and Laura Townsend Winsor; lived on his father's farm on Weld St. in West Roxbury

The Weld name is quite prominent in the history of Massachusetts. In the 1600s, the original immigrant, Joseph Weld, was granted a large tract of land, in what is now West Roxbury, in appreciation for his pivotal work in a war with the Pequot Indians. The land extended into Brookline along South St. and remained in the family for over 250 years. The grandfather of Richard and his cousin Bernard Weld began the family Manila hemp import business. It was carried on, in partnership, by their respective fathers and then by the cousins themselves. After the death of his father Richard lived with his mother at 109 Beacon St., Boston before getting married, in 1919, to Bertha Rinaldo Eldridge. He died in July 1920 at their summer home in Harwichport.