Sacred Ground: Nimrod Angel Cemetery
Last week, the “Sacred Ground” series visited one of Scott County’s oldest cemeteries: the Angel-Wright Cemetery at Angel Valley on Jellico Creek.
This week, we return to Angel Valley to visit a cemetery that isn’t nearly as old as Angel-Wright, but that is literally a stone’s throw away.
The Nimrod Angel Cemetery dates to 1921 and a tragic double-homicide that occurred on election day. The first verifiable burial at Angel-Wright Cemetery, that of James Trammell, was 95 years earlier. But the Nimrod Angel Cemetery is an extension of the Angel-Wright Cemetery, in more ways than one.
Less than 50 yards separate the two cemeteries, which are located on either side of the old road that led to the home of Archibald and Nancy Ann Trammell Angel, the patriarch and matriarch of the Angel family at Angel Valley. The Angel-Wright Cemetery is located on a wooded knoll on the right side of the road; the Nimrod Angel Cemetery is located on the side of a hill on the left side of the road. Both are within sight of the houseplace where the first Angels here raised their family.
There are only five graves in the Nimrod Angel Cemetery: that of Nimrod Angel himself, and four members of his family. It isn’t clear why they weren’t buried in the much-larger Angel-Wright Cemetery, which was still active in 1921.
The Angel family
As laid out in last week’s “Sacred Ground” feature, the Angel family arrived in Tennessee by way of Archibald Angel and his wife, Nancy Ann Trammell. Born in North Carolina around 1775, Arch Angel was the son of William Angel II, an English emigrant to the American colonies. He married Nancy Ann Trammell, the son of Revolutionary War Capt. Dennis Trammell, in 1804. The Angel and Trammell families first settled in the area of what is now Oneida, owning large tracts of land along Pine Creek. They later moved to Jellico Creek, settling what would become known as Angel Valley.
The families moved to Pine Creek prior to 1810, making them some of the earliest settlers of the area that would become Scott County.
Nimrod Angels
There are actually two Nimrod Angels, not to be confused. The namesake of Nimrod Angel Cemetery is a nephew of the first Nimrod Angel, who is buried across the road at Angel-Wright Cemetery.
The original Nimrod Angel was a grandson of Arch and Nancy Ann Trammell Angel. He was born in 1845, the son of James Angel Sr. and Sarah Elizabeth King Angel, and served in the Union army during the Civil War. He died on July 6, 1882.
The latter Nimrod Angel was the son of William Angel, another of James and Sarah’s sons, who married Nancy Meadors. Nimrod was born in 1864 and was probably named for his uncle, who would’ve been 19 at the time.
The latter Nimrod Angel was apparently known as Black Nim. He married Lucinda E. Lay in 1888. She was the daughter of Lewis Lay and Martha Lay and was from McCreary County.
Nim and Lucinda had at least seven children. Among them were daughter Lydia, born in 1898, and son Sterling, born the following year.
Lydia married John Kerns Anderson.
A double homicide
On Aug. 7, 1921 — election day just across the state line in McCreary County, Ky. — both Sterling Angel and his brother-in-law, J.K. Anderson, were gunned down by a man named Mose Walker outside an election precinct.
The trouble apparently started over moonshine.
According to court testimony, Mose Walker was from Scott County, just like Angel and Anderson. He was at the precinct with Bill Walker. Another man — a former Scott County deputy sheriff named William Anderson — was also implicated in the shooting, though his voluntary manslaughter conviction was later overturned by an appeals court.
At around 11am that morning, according to evidence that was presented at trial, Bill Walker produced some moonshine, which several people apparently partook of. An argument ensued about paying for the liquor. Amid the argument, Mose Walker was accused of saying, “If a man were to meddle in my business once he would never meddle with nobody else’s, for I have the difference.”
At some point in the argument, Mose Walker threw a rock and hit Sterling Angel, who in turn punched Bill Walker in the face. Bill Walker drew a knife, but there was no further incident. Later in the day, however, Mose Walker and J.K. Anderson argued, and Walker was said to have made a remark about “settling with him.”
At around five o’clock that evening, Mose Walker waded into an argument and shot Angel, then turned and shot Anderson. One of William Anderson’s sons who was present at the voting precinct was wounded by Walker.
Both 22-year-old Sterling Angel and his brother-in-law, 34-year-old J.K. Anderson, were buried on the hillside just above the road through Angel Valley.
Two years later, Anderson’s wife, Lydia Angel, died at the age of 24 and was buried there, as well.
Nimrod Angel died on March 13, 1929, at age 64, and was buried there. His wife, Lucinda, died on Nov. 2, 1937, at age 68, and was also buried there. She was the final person buried in the small family cemetery.
Aftermath
J.K. Anderson and Lydia Angel apparently had no children. Sterling Angel was unmarried.
Among Lydia and Sterling’s siblings, the other children of Nimrod and Lucinda Angel: Freeman R. Angel, the second-born, died in 1895, just shy of his fifth birthday, and was buried across the road at Angel-Wright Cemetery. The oldest, Ledford Angel, left Tennessee for Ohio and died in 1977. Laura Bell Angel married Alvin Wright and died in 1986 in McCreary County. Mary Angel married Lewis L. Wright and died in 1975, also in McCreary County. Walter Angel, the youngest, left Tennessee for Ohio and died in 1986.
Cemetery census
NIMROD ANGEL CEMETERY
GPS Coordinates: 36.583591461, -84.306922913
First Burial: 1921
Last Burial: 1937
Burials Since Robert Bailey’s 1994 Cemetery Census? No.
John K. Anderson 1886-1921
Lucinda Lay Angel 1869-1937
Lydia Angel Anderson 1898-1923
Nimrod R. Angel 1864-1929
Sterling Angel 1899-1921
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.