History - angells-au

Origin: German

First found in Tyrol, Tyrol, also spelled Tirol, is a historical region in Western Central Europe, which includes the Austrian state of Tyrol (consisting of North Tyrol and East Tyrol) and the Italian regions known as the South Tyrol and Trentino.

Angell is an ancient name whose history on English soil dates back to the wave of emigration that followed the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The name comes from the Old English personal name Angel, which is derived from the Latin Angelus and the Greek Angelos, which means a messenger. The personal name also appeared in the feminine forms of Angela and Angelina.

Spelling variations of this family name include: Angell, Angel, Angeli, Angelli, Angle, Anegall, Anegal, Anegoll and others.
First found in Lancashire where they were seated from very early times, some say before the Norman Conquest of England by Duke William in 1066 A.D.

From official records of the College of Arms in London, it would appear that in the 1500's an Angell family were living at Peakirk in Northamptonsire.
Among the many sensational claims to disputed estates, perhaps none possesses greater interest that those which have from time to time been made to recover the estates known as 'The Great Angell Estates'. The family is said to be descended from a 'Henry de Angele' of Anjou in Normandy, a relation of King Henry 1st by whom in 1128 was created 'Abbott of Peterborough' and on resigning the Abbey, took up abode at Peakirk.
From this period down to about 1566 little can be gleaned of the family beyond the fact that in 1581 there was buried at Peakirk a Thomas Angell a wealthy farmer who was twice married. (He had one son from first wife and six by second wife).

My search on the history of the family has failed to make any connection at all to Henry de Angele of Anjou.

Our own family name of Angell appears to have come from that of Roger of Angelli who gave his offspring the surname of Angell.

All indications are that Roger of Angelli was of Italian descent and yet was born in England in 1460.

There are two possiblities of how the name changed to Angell and the first is that Roger's last name was possibly spelt Angeli and not Angelli and that when the birth of Robert was registered it was done so with incorrect spelling and hence the name Angell became the surname. The second of course is that Roger simply dropped the "i" from the spelling deliberately to give the surname an English spelling rather than Italian/German.

Seventeen Generations of Angells

(GF16) Roger of Angelli Born 1460 Peakirk, Northamptonshire
(GF15) Robert Angell Born 1490, Peakirk, Northamptonshire Died 1568
(GF14) Thomas Angell Born 1520 Died 1581 Peakirk, Northamptonshire
(GF13) Robert Angell Born 1552 Died 1610 Peakirk, Northamptonshire
(GF12) Robert Angell Born 1575 Died 1628 Peakirk, Northamptonshire
(GF11) Robert Angell Born 1601 Bremhill Wiltshire
(GF10) Andrew Angell Born 1629 Calne Wilshire
(GF9) Andrew Angell Born 1649 Calne Wiltshire
(GF8) John Angell Born 1672 in Calne Wiltshire
(GF7) Robert b. 13.8.1705 in Calne Wiltshire
(GF6) John Born 2.5.1735 in Calne Wiltshire
(GF5) John Born 15.9.1767 in Calne Wiltshire
(GF4) William - 27.12.1797 in Calne Wiltshire
(GF3) John Angell Born 1830 in Calne Wiltshire arrived in Australia, 7th November 1849
(GF2) John William born 1849 in UNLEY, SA - Died 1929 Tibooburra
(GF1) William George Born 1882 Wilcannia NSW Died 1957 Broken Hill NSW
(F) Allan William born Tibooburra NSW 25.11.1909 Died 25.11.1987

History of the Angells in Australia

John Angell arrived in Unley with his wife Mary and a 3 year old child named Henry aboard the “Duke of Wellington” and settled in Unley a suburb of Adelaide SA.

Henry was John’s half brother and nephew as a result of John’s father marrying Mary’s sister after the death of John’s mother.

John and Mary had the following child while living in Calne.
William – born 1.4.1849 buried 23.6.1849 (UK)

The following children were born to John and Mary after their arrival in Australia,

John William born 1849 in UNLEY, SA - Died 1929 Tibooburra
George born 1853 in UNLEY, SA Died Adelaide 1914
Charles born 1855 in UNLEY, SA Died 1912 (WA)
Mary Ann born 1858 at UNLEY, SA Died Adelaide 1902
Elizabeth born 1867 at UNLEY, SA.

After their arrival in Unley, the family, as it grew, moved to other suburbs in the Unley district. Namely, Parkside, Glen Osmond, Fullarton, Eastwood and Hyde Park.

I have been able to trace a lot of information on the history of the above family members which you can follow by clicking the links to their names in the site menu's.

John William Angell (Great Grandfather)

It would seem that John left Unley in the early 1870’s (possibly around 1870/71) along with many others from Adelaide following the Gold Rush of 1851 that occurred in Bendigo. Bendigo was then known as Sandhurst. I believe that he spent a number of years in the district and then drawn by the exploits of Burke and Wills in the 1860's, and following in thier footsteps, he headed to NSW. He first went to Wentworth and followed the Darling River upstream to Menindee and then onto Wilcannia. From there he headed inland to Milparinka and finally settled in Tibooburra after gold was discovered there in 1881. John is buried in Tibooburra as is his wife Christina and our grandfather William. Other family members buried in Tibooburra include, John Thomas, Henry, Margaret, Ima and Edith Mabel. Esther was buried in Wilcannia.

It is not known where he met Christina Middleton, whom he married in Menindee on the 19th October, 1878 however it is known they were together in Menindee where Sarah Jane Middleton was born out of wedlock in 1876. Sarah Janes marriage certificate shows her parents as William Angel and Christine May Middleton. Given that there was no known William Angel around at that time, one can only presume that both the mother and father used variations of their true names on the certificate or the person recording the information was partially illiterate. Sarah married William Dickens in Tibooburra on July 9th 1891.

It is known that John William Angell married Christina Middleton on 19th October, 1878 at Menindee NSW. Sarah Jane Middleton was 2 years old at the time of the marriage. The first of the children born after the marriage was registered at Bourke in New South Wales. It is known that those births registered in Bourke were actually born in Wilcannia. Bourke, as well as being a town on the Darling River further north, was also the name given to the Parish in which Wilcannia was located. John would have been around 29 at the time of his marriage.

John and Christina had the following children:

Sarah Jane Middleton Born 1876 Menindee NSW
Esther Emily Born 1879 Wilcannia NSW Died? Buried Wilcania NSW
John Thomas Born 1880 Wilcannia NSW Died 1958 Tibooburra NSW
William George Born 1882 Wilcannia NSW Died 1957 Broken Hill NSW (Our Grandfather)
Margaret A Born 1885 Wilcannia NSW Died 1890 Tibooburra NSW
Alexander Born 1888 Milparinka NSW Died 1928 Broken Hill NSW
Ima May Born 1890 Tibooburra NSW
Edith Mabel Born 1894 Tibooburra NSW Died 1925 Tibooburra NSW
Henry Born 1896 Died 1896 Tibooburra NSW
Ernest B Born 1897 Tibooburra NSW Died Sydney NSW

I am looking into a further female child by the name of Una Angell who it is claimed, is also one of the children of John and Christina.

Editorial 26th October 2008
As it turns out Una Angell was in fact Ima. Registered as Ima on her birth certificate, she was known throughout her life as Ima and it was due to her death certificate showing as Una that the confusion arose. More details can be found via the link to Ima M Angell in the Third Generation Menu.
Ima married our grandmothers (Jessie Louisa Kuerschner)brother (Edward Herman Kuerschner)

Editorial 19th January 2010
Information that has come to hand tells of bushfire's in SA around the 1870's and that many people fled Adelaide and surrounding suburbs at the time of what was to become known as Black Friday bushfire's. William Angell, a brother of John Angell was one of these and he went to Victoria where he took up residence in Kew.
I am unable to find any information of this bushfire as the records do not go back that far but if this information is correct, then my version of event's would not be correct as to why John Angell left SA in the first instance.

Menindee NSW

I am unable to establish what John was doing at Menindee however we know that Burke and Wills travelled through Menindee on their ill fated expedition, arriving there in 1860 and leaving in 1861. At that time, John would have been around 12 years of age and may have been drawn to the area later in life because of these explorers.

It may well have been a planned stop over on the journey that the family was undertaking. This is something that I feel we will sadly never know.

Wilcannia NSW

Birth records for the first five children born of this marriage are shown as registered at Bourke NSW. However, Bourke, being the Parish of and not the town of, means that the first four children were born in or around Wilcannia NSW as there is no evidence to suggest that they travelled to Bourke at any time. My own view is they travelled from Wilcannia via White Cliffs to Milparinka where Alexander was born and then on to Tibooburra where the Angell family became established after the birth of three more children.

Tibooburra NSW

Tibooburra was in the heart of the Albert Goldfields and it appears that the family moved to Tibooburra chasing the lures of gold. It seems they arrived in Tibooburra around 1889.

The town really came into existence with the discovery of gold at Mt Browne and then Tibooburra itself in 1881. That year thousands of miners arrived in the town which led the government to survey the townsite and build a post office.

My grandfather, William George would have been around 7 years of age at the time of the arrival. He married Jesse Keurschner in 1908 which would have made him about 26 at the time of the marriage.

Our father Allan William Angell was born in Tibooburra in 1909.

As Tibooburra was considered the Administration centre of "The Corner", I have not included details about Milparinka here where the family first arrived in the district. Instead you can read about Milparinka in the link provided in the menu.

William George Angell (Grandfather)

William George Angell was born in 1882 at Wilcannia NSW. He died in 1957 at Broken Hill NSW and is buried in Tibooburra NSW.

William travelled to Tibooburra with his parents and would have been around 7 years old upon their arrival in the township after spending some time in Milparinka.

William married Jessie L Kuerschner in Tibooburra in 1908 and they had the following children:

Allan William was born Tibooburra 25/11/1909 Died Broken Hill 25/11/1987
Colin Lewis Born Tibooburra 14/4/1912 Died Broken Hill 1/10/1989
Victor E Died Tibooburra 1915
Milton Keith Born Tibooburra 1920 Died Wellington NSW 15/2/2004
Sylvia M (died in childhood)
Jack Died Broken Hill 15/4/2010

William, John and Alexander Angell were tank sinkers in the Tibooburra district and known as the Angell Brothers. They were tank sinkers on Yandama Stn. Yandama was a huge property, extending from the Tibooburra common westward to the South Australian border and from Cameron’s corner to Quinyambie to the south

The lease on Binerah Downs, after it was resumed from Olive Downs Pastoral Company, was taken up by William and John Angell in the 1920's. Given that Alexander was part of the family business but not included on the lease of Binerah Downs, it is safe to suggest that Binerah Downs came into the hands of the Angell family after his (Alexander's) death in 1928.
Binerah Downs was later taken over by our father Allan and remained in the family until 1976 when it became part of the Sturt National Park.

Created on 06/10/2008 11:03 PM by Rod
Updated on 18/04/2010 11:50 PM by Rod