Thomas Angell
Thomas Angell | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1616 |
| Died | 1694 (aged 77–78) |
| Spouse | Alice Ashton |
| Children | John, Anphilis, Mary, Deborah, Alice, James, Hope, Margaret |
Thomas Angell (c.1616–1694) was one of the first settlers of Providence Plantation in what became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and his name appears on several of the town's earliest documents. Angell Street on Providence's East Side is named for him.
Life
Thomas Angell probably came to the new settlement of Providence Plantation in 1637, as his name was listed on a document there in early 1638. [1] Starting in late 1638, he and 12 other men signed a compact which offered civil equality with the earlier settlers of the town.[2][3][4][5][6] One of Thomas Angell's grandsons believed that Thomas was one of Roger Williams's initial companions who settled Providence in 1636, but twentieth-century scholars showed that this family legend could not have been true.[7]
On 27 July 1640, Thomas Angell was one of 39 inhabitants of Providence who signed a document for a form of government; he signed by mark.[3]
In 1652, Angell was selected as a commissioner, and he was a juryman in 1655 and also served as constable.[3] Also in 1655, his name appears on a list of freemen within the colony.[3] His name last appears on a public record in 1685 when he and his son James were taxed.[3] He wrote his will in May 1685 but he lived until 1694, when his will was proved in September of that year.[3]
Family
Angell married Alice Ashton, the daughter of James Ashton of Saint Albans in Hertfordshire, England.[8] Alice's sister Mary married Thomas Olney, another Providence settler, and her brother James also came to New England. Thomas and Alice had eight children. Their daughter Alice married Eleazer Whipple, the son of John and Sarah Whipple and brother of Colonel Joseph Whipple, and their daughter Margaret married Jonathan, another son of John and Sarah Whipple.[3] Their son James married Abigail Dexter, the daughter of colonial President Gregory Dexter.[3] His descendant James Burrill Angell was the president of the University of Vermont and the University of Michigan, as well as an ambassador to China and Turkey.[9]
See also
References
- ^ Watson 2020, p. 279, 282.
- ^ Watson 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Austin 1887, p. 4.
- ^ Arnold 1859, p. 103.
- ^ Bicknell 1920, pp. 177, 196.
- ^ Field 1902, p. 33.
- ^ Smith & Sanborn 1992, p. 107-110.
- ^ Moriarty 1945, p. 206.
- ^ Smith 1954, p. 6.
Bibliography
- Arnold, Samuel Greene (1859). History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Vol. 1. New York: D. Appleton & Company. OCLC 712634101.
- Austin, John Osborne (1887). Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island. Albany, New York: J. Munsell's Sons. ISBN 978-0-8063-0006-1.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - Bicknell, Thomas Williams (1920). The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Vol. 1. New York: The American Historical Society. p. 158.
- Chapin, Howard M. (1916). Documentary History of Rhode Island. Providence: Preston and Rounds Company. pp. 8–16.
- Field, Edward (1902). State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the End of the Century: A History. Vol. 1. Boston: Mason Publishing Company.
- Moriarty, G. Andrews (January 1945). "Additions and Corrections to Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island". The American Genealogist. 21 (3): 206.
- Smith, Dean Crawford; Sanborn, Melinde Lutz (1992). The Ancestry of Emily Jane Angell, 1844-1910. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society.
- Smith, Shirley W. (1954). James Burrill Angell: An American Influence. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Watson, Ian (2020). "The Dating of the Providence Civil Compact" (PDF). The American Genealogist. 96: 165–189, 261–283. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
External links
- Rhode Island History from the State of Rhode Island General Assembly website. See Chapter 2, Colonial Era.