Many of you know where Phoebe Lane is. Some people drive past it or on it several times a week. The Public Safety Building is at the end of Phoebe Lane. A very pretty name for a street and it’s the only street in the Village of Delhi named for a woman. I believe the street was built circa 1920-1940 but I don’t know the exact date. Maggie Hoag Road is the only road in the Town of Delhi named for a woman, that I’m aware of, but that’s another story.
At the intersection of Meredith Street, formerly called the Whig Road, named for a political party popular in the early settlement period, and Delview Terrace Extension was the Flower’s farm. Do you remember a faded reddish shingled farm house, which is gone now, on the northeast corner? I can’t find a map showing the exact location of the farmhouse but that may be where the Flower, also spelled Flowers, family lived. Joseph and Phoebe Flower had at least 4 children, Antoinette, William, Henry and Sophia. There may have been other children not named on the 1855 census.
It wasn’t unusual for farms to have a small family burial ground not far from their home. The Flower’s had their burial ground behind the house in a shady corner of their home field. When the farm land was developed the burial ground was discovered. It was necessary to remove the remains of 4 people buried there. The burial ground had 2 small gravestones with lambs, used for children’s gravestones, plus another grave marker that didn’t have a name but I suspect was for Joseph. The 4th gravestone is a small, 2 piece monument with a slightly rounded top and the inscription: Phebe Wife of Joseph Flower Died May 1, 1878 aged 62 years. All 4 grave occupants were removed from the Flower’s burial ground to Woodland Cemetery where they now rest in peace. The street is called Phoebe Lane in her memory.
This and many more stories can be found in John Raitt’s “Ruts in the Road” books. This story is from volume 4. The Flower family can be found going back to the 1500’s in Wales, where many Flower families still live.
