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Dr. Cora Angier Sowa

GENEALOGY OF THE ANGIER FAMILY (DESCENDED FROM JOSEPH ANGIER OF MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS) AND OF THE POWELL AND HUFF FAMILIES (OF TEXAS AND GEORGIA)

Compiled by Cora Angier Sowa

Fitzwilliam NH
A corner of the village green in Fitzwilliam, NH, where the Angier family settled.
CONTENTS:
  1. An Angier Genealogy, compiled by Estelle Angier and Keith Angier, edited by Cora Angier Sowa
  2. Revolutionary Record of Silas and John Angier
  3. The graveyard in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire
  4. Ancestry of the Huff and Powell Families
  5. The Huff tomb in Lone Oak, Texas

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AN ANGIER GENEALOGY

FROM JOSEPH ANGIER, MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS TO THE ANGIERS OF FITZWILLIAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE TO THE PRESENT
[Compiled by Estelle Angier, Keith Angier, and Cora Angier Sowa]
[Ed note: footnotes are represented in parentheses.]

Fitzwilliam NH

Picture of the Fitzwilliam Inn taken by Cora Angier Sowa's husband John Sowa in 2006. The present building was probably built around 1843, although an earlier inn stood on the site dating from 1793. Its former name was the Goldsmith Tavern. Silas Angier, who fought in the Revolution, would have known the place well. To see more pictures of Fitzwilliam, taken on a family trip to New Hampshire, click here.

HISTORY OF MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, WHERE JOSEPH ANGIER SETTLED

In the History of Medford* (*by Brooks) we read that of the earliest town records, the first twenty-five or thirty pages are lost. The first record reads: "The first Monday of February in the Year of Our Lord 1674." The colony was first discussed in Lincolnshire in 1627. Four ships set sail from the Isle of Wight on April 8, 1630; in May eight more, two having gone before in Feb. and Mar. and 2 more in June and Aug. beside another private merchant. 17 ships. The four arrived June and July and went up the river Mystick to Meadford. The first settlers from Suffolk, Essex, Lincolnshire. Patent procured 1628. Settlements in 1630: Boston, Meadford, Roxbury, Watertown, Cambridge, Dorchester. The greater bulk of 12 ships within the year went to Medford, first settled June 17, '30.

"How many of the first settlers became freemen we shall not know until the lost records of Medford are discovered...If any historian issues a writ of replevin, then we must appeal to lost records or give up."

JOSEPH ANGIER:

Among the names represented in the county records as at Medford is Joseph Angier, in 1684; born as early as 1663.** (**Males over 21 were registered.)

He lived in Dorchester with his wife Elizabeth from 1694 to 1708.

He came to Framingham in 1709, settling on Work Hill, back of Charles Capen's, on land leased of Joseph Buckminster, according to Barry's History of Framingham. Temple's History of Framingham tells us "Angier's Brook rises on Work Hill and runs to the south near schoolhouse No. 6."

He died Nov. 30, 1718 in Framingham.*** (***wife died Jan. 14, 1732.)

Children born in Dorchester:

Children born in Framingham:

BENJAMIN ANGIER

Born June 22, 1704, Dorchester. Married Sarah _____.

He died before 1757.

Children born in Framingham:

Children born in Marlboro:

Also born in Framingham:

SILAS ANGIER

Born Oct. 9, 1737, Marlboro. Married Elizabeth, daughter of Caleb and Mehetabel Drury of Framingham, b. Aug. 5, 1741, d. Aug.5, 1811.

The family came to Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire [in 1779 after residing in Temple, NH, see John F. Norton, The History of Fitzwilliam, 1888].

The family was in Temple, New Hampshire before and during the American Revolution, **** (****See History of Temple (Blood) for his war record in the Revolution.)

Silas Angier Sr. died Oct. 6, 1808.

Children born in Framingham:

Children born in Temple:

Children born in Fitzwilliam:

Silas, still in Temple, NH as revolution was brewing, signs a statement against the British Crown (from Blood's History of Temple, N.H. Extracts from the Minutes of a town hall meeting of Temple, New Hampshire, April 12, 1776)

"We, the Subscribers, do hereby solemnly profess our entire willingness, at the Risque of our Lives & Fortunes, with arms, to oppose the Hostile Attempts of the British Fleets and Armies against the United American Colonies, whenever, and to such a degree, as such attempts of Britain may require."

Among those who signed the document, sent as a test to several towns by the continental Congress before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was Silas Angier.

For the Revolutionary War service record of Silas Angier and his brother John at Ticonderoga and Saratoga, see below.

Silas settles in Fitzwilliam (from the History of Fitzwilliam by John F. Norton, 1888, p.133)

"Silas Angier and Elizabeth Drury, his wife, were from Framingham, Mass., but resided for a few years after their marriage in Temple, N.H. They came to Fitzwilliam in 1779. Mr. Angier owned Lot 8, Range 7, and Lot 6, Range 9. He built his house by setting posts in the ground and covering the same with slabs brought through the woods by marked trees with great difficulty from Allen's mill in Royalston. Mr. Angier cut the large maples and birches upon his land, burned the brush, and put in his corn and potatoes with a hoe without ploughing."

ABEL ANGIER

Born Aug 17, 1775, Temple, NH. Married Lovina, daughter of Philip and Eunice (Shumway) Amadon, b. 1776, d. July 11, 1844, Dec. 29 1795.

Married Roxana, widow of Levi Haskell and a sister of his first wife, b. Feb.3, 1774, d. Aug. 22, 1858, April 18, 1845.

Abel Angier died Feb. 27, 1861.

Children by Lovina:

Abel Angier was an early traveler to Illinois, spending two years there before returning to Fitzwilliam. The following excerpt is from a short biographical sketch of his son Reuben, brother of PHILIP DODDRIDGE ANGIER and his grandson Reuben Leander Angier, cousin of WALTER EUGENE ANGIER. Reuben Leander became the owner of successful granite quarries in Fitzwilliam and in Barre, Vermont. To see the entire biographical sketch of Abel, Reuben, and Reuben Leander, click HERE.

. . . Abel Angier was an early settler of Fitzwilliam, which is in the south eastern part of Cheshire County. In middle life, however, he spent two years in Northern Illinois, going there from Albany, N.Y., in an emigrant wagon long before the days of railroads. Upon returning to Fitzwilliam, he bought the old Tower farm, where he spent his last days with his family, attaining the advanced age of eighty-six years. . .

PHILIP DODDRIDGE ANGIER

Born March 25, 1811. Died Oct. 2, 1890.

Married Sept 28, 1834, Nancy D., born Dec. 19, 1814, died Dec. 27, 1841, daughter of John and Nancy (Knights) Sargent.

Children by Nancy:

Second marriage of Philip D. was to Mary, born Oct. 18, 1820, died July 8, 1856, daughter of Samuel and Tamar (Grant) Hayden, on Jan. 1, 1844.

Children by Mary:

Third marriage was to Sarah Arabella, born Dec. 1, 1832, daughter of Merrill and Sally (Townsley) Reed of Newfane, Vermont, on July 2, 1858. Arabella died Nov. 20, 1914.

The family removed to Swanzey, New Hampshire in 1865.

Children by Sarah Arabella:

Sarah Arabella Reed (Angier) was the sister of the mother of the poet Eugene Field, and was the "Aunt Belle" to whom he dedicated his "Love Songs of Childhood." Her son Walter Eugene, who was my grandfather, was named for his cousin the poet. A picture of Arabella Angier in later years appears on the page devoted to my grandfather's engineering career. Click here to see the picture.

WALTER EUGENE ANGIER

This was my grandfather. For a complete biography of Walter Angier, civil engineer and designer of railroad bridges, see "Engineers in the Family I," in "Cora Sowa's Right-of-Way."

Born May 18, 1863. Married Mary Elizabeth Powell of Luling, Texas in December, 1889. (For Mary Powell's ancestry, see below, "Ancestry of the Huff and Powell Families.")

Children:

ROBERT MITCHELL ANGIER

He was my father! He was named for Dr. Robert Mitchell, physician and public figure, of Memphis, Tennessee, who was a family friend. (For Robert Angier's job as Head Cost Analyst for the Los Angeles Division of the Southern Pacific, see my first Railroad page, in "Cora Sowa's Right-of-Way," under "Ths Cost Analyst's Daughter.")

Born April 13, 1895, Chicago, IL. Died August, 1966, Los Angeles, California.

Married Lael ("June Dawn" — her stage name as a silent movie actress), foster daughter of Galen and _______ Barstow, born 1895 in Missouri, in 1917. They went to Saugus, Calif. Jan. 26, 1918. (Divorced.)

Married Mary DeWitt. (Divorced.)

Married Frances Christine Cooper (my mother) (born June 17, 1907 in Pittsburgh, PA, died 1986 in Berkeley, CA), in 1938.

Christine Cooper was one of five children of Clarence Lincoln Cooper and the California painter Emma Virginia Schmid Cooper. The Coopers were from the area around Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Virginia Schmid's father, a schoolteacher, immigrated from Bavaria in 1867. Virginia's sister Alma was married to the Russian inventor Alexander Lodyguine, to whom another page of this Web site is devoted. A complete history of the Cooper and Schmid families in Germany and the U.S. is documented in three volumes of memoirs by my uncle Dr. Charles William Cooper (Christine's brother):

  1. Family Rootage, Santa Barbara, CA, 1977
  2. Boyhood and Maturing Youth, Santa Barbara, 1978
  3. Life in Joint Tenure, Santa Barbara, 1980

Children by Lael:

Child by Christine:

CORA BELLE ANGIER (SOWA)

Born Nov. 18, 1938, Los Angeles, Calif., married John Florian Sowa Oct. 12, 1968.

This is me! To read about my work as a Classicist and digital humanist, and to access my pages on railroads and engineering, you can go to my home page at www.minervaclassics.com.

Fitzwilliam NH
The Angier family in New Hampshire was for a number of years in the granite quarrying business. The Soldiers' Monument in the Fitzwilliam village green is an example of their product, seen in this photo from 2006.

REVOLUTIONARY RECORD OF SILAS AND JOHN ANGIER, BROTHERS

Extracts from the Minutes of a town hall meeting of Temple, New Hampshire, April 12, 1776.* (From Blood's History of Temple, N.H. pp.105-106. War Records from History of Fitzwilliam.)

We, the Subscribers, do hereby solemnly profess our entire willingness, at the Risque of our Lives & Fortunes, with arms, to oppose the Hostile Attempts of the British Fleets and Armies against the United American Colonies, whenever, and to such a degree, as such attempts of Britain may require.

Among those who signed the document, sent as a test to several towns by the Continental Congress before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was Silas Angier.

The Committee of Safety of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, in 1778: Deacon John Locke, Lieutenant Levi Brigham, and Lieutenant John Angier.

John Angier served in Capt. Joseph Parker's company that joined the northern army at Ticonderoga (Mustered in July 18, 1776. Five in number.), as a Sgt.

John Angier, in Capt. John Mellan's company, which marched from Fitzwilliam and towns adjacent to reinforce the garrison at Ticonderoga on the alarm of June 1777 (twenty-four men). Silas Angier went in Captai Drury's army. Little or no actual service in this case.

Silas Angier, in Josiah Brown's company for Ticonderoga, N.Y. Marched May 6, 1777 (three men). service: forty-two days.

Silas Angier, in Col. Moore's Reg't. to join the army at Saratoga. Captain Lewis' Co. marched from Marlborough in Sept 1777. Silas Angier went in Capt. Drury's Co. (service: twenty-eight days; four men).

John Angier in Col. Enoch Hale's Regt. Aug. 1778, for service in Rhode Is. Nine men went in Capt. James Lewis' Co., John Angier serving as Lieutenant. Time of service, twenty-three days.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF REUBEN LEANDER ANGIER (COUSIN OF WALTER EUGENE ANGIER), HIS FATHER REUBEN ANGIER (BROTHER OF PHILIP DODDRIDGE ANGIER), AND HIS (AND WALTER'S) GRANDFATHER ABEL ANGIER

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, VOLUME XXIII, CONTAINING LIFE SKETCHES OF LEADING CITIZENS OF CHESHIRE AND HILLSBORO COUNTIES, NEW HAMPSHIRE, Boston, Biographical Review Publishing Company, 1897, pp. 339-340.

REUBEN LEANDER ANGIER, the owner of a large granite quarry in Fitzwilliam, N.H., was born in this place, February 2, 1842, son of Reuben and Eliza Ann (Bowen) Angier. His grandfather, Abel Angier, was an early settler of Fitzwilliam, which is in the south eastern part of Cheshire County. In middle life, however, he spent two years in Northern Illinois, going there from Albany, N.Y., in an emigrant wagon long before the days of railroads. Upon returning to Fitzwilliam, he bought the old Tower farm, where he spent his last days with his family, attaining the advanced age of eighty-six years. His son Reuben, the father of Reuben L., became a successful farmer. He assisted his father, Abel, in buying the Tower farm, and upon his father's death bought out the other heirs. He died in 1881, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, leaving a large acreage to his son. He had been a Selectman, and had he been a supporter of the popular party, would undoubtedly have been elected a Representative to the legislature. By his wife, Eliza Ann, he had two children -- a son, Reuben Leander; and a daughter, Lydia A., who died at the age of sixteen years.

At twenty-one Reuben L. Angier, having acquired his education in the Fitzwilliam school, No. 8, and at the select school in the village, commenced quarrying granite, which he found in abundance upon his farm, continuing this industry as well as his farming with great success. He is now one of the best known quarrymen in this section of the State. Going out of the business in Fitzwilliam some time ago, he opened a quarry in Barre, Vt., and, after working it successfully for a time, sold it at a handsome profit. Until 1892 he both quarried and finished the granite, but since that date he has quarried only. He still carries on a general farming business, and raises annually a large crop of potatoes. He married Laura E. Thompson, daughter of Ozias H. Thompson, of Barre, Vt. Their children are: Rollin Leander, Frank T., and Fanny Belle.

Mr. Angier was for some time vice-president of the Fitzwilliam Savings Bank, and is now the president of the bank. He is a Democrat in politics, and has served for many years as a Selectman of the town. He was last chosen First Selectman, but declined to serve.

THE GRAVEYARD IN FITZWILLIAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE

The pictures of Fitzwilliam on this page were taken on a trip taken by family and friends in the fall of 2006. More pictures of Fitzwilliam, the cemetery, and the surrounding countryside, including Mount Monadnock, which dominates the area, can be found on another page of this Web site, by clicking here.

Fitzwilliam NH

Fitzwilliam NH

Fitzwilliam NH

Fitzwilliam NH

Fitzwilliam NH


ANCESTRY OF THE HUFF AND POWELL FAMILIES

In December, 1889, Walter Eugene Angier, my grandfather, married Mary Elizabeth Powell of Luling, Texas. Mary Powell's grandfather, Leonard Corder Huff, had moved to Texas from Marietta, Georgia. Here is her genealogy.

LEONARD CORDER HUFF

Leonard Corder Huff was from Marietta, Georgia. He was born on July 10, 1811. He died on July 29, 1873 in the area of Luling Texas, and is buried in the family burial plot, marked with an obelisk, in Lone Oak Cemetery near Luling.

Married Martha Chambers, who was born Feb 13, 1820 and died July 23, 1858.

He had 11 children by his first wife. She and two of the children died within 2 days, July 21-23, 1858, in a typhoid fever epidemic.

Married Martha Meriwether.

He had seven children by his second wife.

His third child was MARY CATHERINE HUFF.


MARY CATHERINE HUFF

Married Joseph (?) MacKellar. Their children, as recorded on the obelisk, are buried in the family plot.

Married James Townsend Powell, a widower.

Children by James Powell:

Married ________ Harris. (Separated.)


MARY ELIZABETH POWELL

Married Walter Eugene Angier in December 1889.

Children:

HUFF FAMILY TOMB, LONE OAK, TEXAS

Lone Oak, Texas, where the Huff family burial plot is located, lies just east of Luling on Highway 183. Today it is a ghost town, and the old cemetery is in a state of disrepair. The pictures below of the Huff obelisk were taken by my aunt, Estelle Angier, in April, 1950. Pictures of the old graves taken in 2001 are posted on the Web site TexasEscapes.com.

Huff Tomb, Luling

Huff Tomb, Luling

Huff Tomb, Luling

Huff Tomb, Luling

Huff Tomb, Luling

All photos and other material on this site, unless otherwise identified, are copyrighted by Cora Angier Sowa.

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