Archibald Angel
Archibald Andrew “Arch” Angel (~1775-1847) was the first settler of what is today known as Angel Valley in the Gum Fork area of Scott County east of Winfield, and one of the earliest settlers of what would become Scott County.
See Also: The Scott County Lineage Project
Biography
Born about 1775 in North Carolina, Archibald Angel was the son of William Angel II (1752-1852) and Mary Rachel Godwin (1752-1841).
Angel was a second-generation American. His father, William Angel II, was born in Shropshire, England, and immigrated to the American colonies as a young man.
In about 1804, Arch Angel married Nancy Ann Trammell. She was the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Dennis Trammell, who was another early settler of the Winfield area, along with his wife, Elizabeth Brassfield.
Arch and Nancy Trammell had at least six children: James Angel (born 1806), Thomas Angel (born 1814), Millie Angel (born 1816), Dennis Angel (born 1819), Nancy Ann Angel (born about 1820) and Elizabeth Jane Angel (born 1824).
Following the death of Nancy Trammell Angel in 1829, Arch Angel married a second time to Charlotte Trammell in November 1832. She is believed to have been a niece of Nancy Trammell (the daughter of James Trammell). Arch had at least five more children with Charlotte: Malinda (born 1834), Lucinda (born 1835), John (born 1838), Mahulda Ann (born 1841), and Helen Mary (born 1843).
Angel was a slave-owner; according to census records, he owned five slaves in 1830 and seven slaves in 1840.
Arrival in Scott County
It is not known exactly when the Angel and Trammell families arrived in the area that would become Scott County (which was not formed until 1849). However, this likely occurred sometime between 1807 and 1810.
There are various court records indicating that Dennis Trammell moved his family to Claiborne County by 1797, then to Knox County, Ky. by 1805. That was one year after the marriage of his daughter to Arch Angel, though it’s not clear exactly where they were married.
In February 1804, Col. Return Jonathan Meigs — a Revolutionary War hero who was serving as a Cherokee agent in Tennessee — sent a letter naming Arch Angel and others as “intruders on Indian Lands on the West Side of the Cumberland Mountain.” The letter did not specify where Angel would have lived at the time, but mentions Little South Fork, Clear Fork, Mouth of Buffaloe, Poplar Creek, Tattersons Creek, Elk Ford and the Cumberland River.
The reason for Meigs’ letter: the Cumberland Plateau was still considered Indian territory at the time. The Cherokee did not cede ownership of the lands to the United States until the Third Treaty of Tellico shortly thereafter. It was that treaty that opened the Cumberland Plateau to white settlement.
Meigs’ letter ordered all of those living on Indian lands to remove themselves and their property or be forcibly removed by the U.S. military.
Angel appeared — along with Trammell — on a tax list in Knox County, Ky. in 1807.
By 1810, both the Angel and Trammell families had arrived in present-day Scott County. Survey records indicate that Angel owned 298 acres on Pine Creek, while Trammell owned 216 acres on Pine Creek. At that time, the entire Oneida area was considered Pine Creek.
It was at some point after 1810 that the Angel and Trammell families moved from Pine Creek to Angel Valley, a lush valley along Jellico Creek between the Gum Fork and Capuchene communities east of Winfield.
The Angel-Wright Cemetery
In 1826, James Trammell — Nancy Ann Trammell Angel’s brother — died and was buried on a small knoll on the family’s farm at Angel Valley. The grave was located just a few steps from Arch and Nancy Angel’s home. Angel-Wright Cemetery, as it came to be known, grew to contain more than 150 graves, although most of them are unidentifiable.
While there may have been burials at the cemetery prior to 1826, James Trammell has the oldest identifiable headstone in all of Scott County.
When Nancy Ann Trammell Angel died in 1829, at the age of about 47, she is believed to have been buried at the family cemetery. A headstone marking her grave cannot be verified, though a descendant of the Angel family reports to have found a stone inscribed “N.A. Angel 28 ___ 1829,” which they believe to be her grave. Of note: Peggy Pennell transcribed the cemetery in 2001 and discovered a stone bearing the letters “N.A.D.,” along with what appeared to be a “28” and “1829,” which would be strikingly similar to the stone that has been documented by a descendant as possibly being the stone of Nancy Angel.
Death
Arch Angel died on July 14, 1847, at the age of about 72. He is also believed to be buried at the Angel-Wright Cemetery. However, there is no verifiable headstone to be found.
Following her husband’s death, Charlotte Trammell Angel remarried to Jacob Lafever.