Globe reader finds founder of 120-year-old Somerville bakery

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

An amateur historian from Ayer has discovered the identity of the namesake of Lyndell's Bakery, a Somerville landmark that celebrated 120 years in business this week.

Birger C. Lyndell, born in Sweden in 1866, moved to the United States in 1880, seven years before the founding of Lyndell's Bakery, according to local census records and phone directories. He lived in Newton until 1901, when he moved to Somerville, and had an address a block away from the original location of Lyndell's Bakery. His occupation is listed as baker, according to the documents unearthed by Bob Hallett, a genealogy buff who learn about the bakery in today's Globe.

"When I read the article, it had research written all over it," Hallett said in an e-mail.

The current owner, Bill Galatis, said that when he bought the business the owners did not know the identity of the Lyndells.

"Well, it sounds like him," Galatis said when told of Hallett's research. "That's remarkable."

A 1940 Newton directory lists Lyndell as retired. The bakery's second owner, Eugene Klemm, purchased the business in 1934, according to a narrative of the businesses's history provided by Galatis. Klemm sold it to Herman and Janet Kett in 1968. Galatis bought the bakery in 2000.

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