The Story

Engel is the 85th most common surname in Germany, but doesn't crack the top 1000 in the United States. The most accepted origins of the Engel surname include: a shortened form of various personal names like Engelbert or Engelhardt; evolved from Ingal, an extended form of Ing, a Germanic fertility god; an ornamental name chosen because of its meaning (angel) or sound; a habitational name based on an angel being used as a sign of the family's household; or a reference to the Angles who lived in Jutland (Denmark) and gave their name to England.

Our ancestors' surname has been spelled varyingly on official records during the first three generations in the United States. The earliest records, including Hugo's ship manifest (1849), marriage record (1854), and civil war muster (1862) are all spelled Engel. Spelling changes begin after the Civil War: Angell on Ralph's 1867 birth record, Engell on Hugo's 1868 death record, and Angel on Marie's 1870 census record. Engell and Engel are then both commonly found on records covering the next 50 years, with Engell used more predominantly by Hugo's son Ralph and Ralph's son Kester. The last known instance of Engell is Kester's entry in the 1922 Quincy city directory. And then there is the rather ironic spelling of Bob Engel's name on his own birth record: Engle.

Our Engel cousins in Athol, Massachusetts pronounce their name the same as we do here in Maryland. The Athol Engels believe the pronunciation was deliberately changed to a soft-G to avoid sounding German around the time of World War 1; however, the double-L spellings of the 1800s and early 1900s suggest a soft-G pronunciation at least as early as the post-Civil War period.

From Fred's Gift, preserved as written · see the scanned pages →

Frederick Eberhardt Hugo Engel, always known as Hugo, was born about 1827 in Berlin, Germany. That birth year is etched on his gravestone; however, his birth could have been any year between 1823 and 1830 based on the age listed on his various records. All of Hugo's own records simply say he was born in Germany, but his son Charles indicated on his 1920 census record that Hugo was specifically from Berlin, and Hugo's great-grandson Donald remembered the same when interviewed in 2001.

Donald also recalled being told by his grandfather that Hugo had arrived in New York in his 20s, which would be around 1850. Mid-19th century Germany was in turmoil from the revolutions of 1848 that were ultimately unsuccessful. Many of Europe's emigrants were known as 48'ers, and it seems reasonable to assume a young Hugo was at least partially motivated by these circumstances.

A 26 year old merchant worker from Berlin, named Hugo Engel, is listed on the manifest of an immigrant ship named Agnes that arrived in New York on September 19, 1849. To date, this is the best match with the known information. A typical German immigrant of this era had a job, but no real opportunity to advance out of the lower working class. Hugo likely purchased his own ticket, which might have cost him a third to half of a year's wages.

New York City did not have a centralized processing center for immigrants in 1849 (Castle Garden opened in 1855, and Ellis Island in 1892), so after the 40-day crossing of the Atlantic that would have been typical of a sail-powered ship, the Agnes could have discharged its passengers at any number of locations in the city. Did Hugo know any of the other passengers prior to traveling? Did he know anyone in the United States when he arrived?

Hugo first met Anna Maria Zoller in New York. Marie, as she was always known, was born about 1829 in Frankfurt, Germany. As with Hugo, her birth year might range plus or minus three years, and her place of birth is also based on her son Charles' 1920 census record. Marie had also arrived in New York in her 20s about mid-century, with her sister Cecilia. A manifest for the ship Columbia arriving in New York on August 17, 1853 lists Marie, Nel, and Celia Zoller (ages 21, 19 and 18), from a farming family in Germany.

Just over a year later, Hugo and Marie were married on September 2, 1854 in New York. Hugo was 28 and living in Brooklyn at the time, and Marie's address is in Manhattan. They lived for a short time in Baltimore, Maryland, where their first two children were born: Helen in 1857 and Charles in 1859. But they were back in New York by at least 1861 where their middle child Hugo F. was born.

The first casualties of the Civil War occurred in April 1861 with the Pratt Street Riot in Baltimore. Did Hugo and his family move back north because of Baltimore's southern sympathies? Hugo volunteered in 1862 with the New York 103rd Infantry Regiment, and he was assigned to Company G. Union volunteers at this period of the war typically enlisted for six or nine months. During Hugo's 1½ years of service, the 103rd fought in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. They were engaged in the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day battle in U.S. history, and suffered 117 men killed, wounded or missing while participating in the charge at the stone bridge. There is no record of Hugo being wounded during the war. He was successively promoted to sergeant-major, 2nd lieutenant, 1st lieutenant, and quartermaster before being mustered out in late 1863.

After the war, Hugo and Marie lived in Brooklyn, where their two youngest children, Herman and Ralph, were born in 1865 and 1867, respectively. About the time of Ralph's birth, the family moved to Deerfield in northwestern Massachusetts. Hugo worked as a wallet maker in Deerfield, but he died of Dropsy just a year later on April 19, 1868 at the age of 41. Marie was about 38 at the time, and his children were 10, 9, 6, 3, and 1.

Marie thereafter lived off a widow's pension. Her widowed sister Cecilia, whose husband Clemence Lang had also recently died, was living with them, along with Cecilia's son Otto. By 1880 the combined family had moved about 30 miles east to the growing industrial town of Athol, Massachusetts, most likely to provide employment for Marie's children. Marie was “keeping house” while her four oldest children were all working in leather-working shops. Her youngest son Ralph was in school.

Marie saw all her sons marry in the 1880s, and she became a grandmother in 1884. She lived out her remaining years at the Engel home on Prospect Street with her daughter Helen and her son Hugo and his family. Marie died on October 3, 1897, aged 67, of tuberculosis. She was survived by four of her five children, six grandchildren, and her sister Cecilia. Hugo and Marie are buried together in Silver Lake Cemetery.

From Fred's Gift, preserved as written · see the scanned pages →

After the big migrations of Hugo and Marie from Germany to the United States, there have been at least nine different cities that were called home by our Engel line of ancestors from Hugo to Bob.

1st Generation — Hugo: Brooklyn NY, Baltimore MD, Brooklyn NY, Deerfield MA. 2nd Generation — Ralph: Brooklyn NY, Deerfield MA, Athol MA. 3rd Generation — Ket: Athol MA, Brockton MA, Athol MA, Quincy MA. 4th Generation — Bob: Quincy MA, Arlington VA, Glen Burnie MD, Catonsville MD.

From Fred's Gift, preserved as written · see the scanned pages →

Hugo and Marie had five children: Helen, Charles, Hugo, Herman and Ralph.

Helen M. Engel was born on August 15, 1857 in Baltimore, Maryland. She lived all her adult life in Athol, Massachusetts and worked at the Bates Brothers wallet shop until she was about 50 years old. She never married, always living with her mother, and then with her brother Hugo and his family. According to census records, she was living with the Drury family as a domestic servant in 1910, and with the Ball family as a nurse in 1920. She died in 1929 and is buried with Hugo and Marie in Silver Lake Cemetery.

Charles F. Engel was born on January 20, 1859 in Baltimore, Maryland. He married Melora Rutenia Bartlett on April 27, 1882 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and they had one child, Karl Joseph Engel, born June 20, 1884 in Athol. While in Athol, Charles worked at the Bates Brothers Wallet Shop. Charles moved his family to Springfield in 1895, and he worked as a pocketbook manufacturer at N. Papateri Co. for about 10 years. He then co-owned Engel & Hamilton for a year before starting Engel Brothers with his brother Herman and his son Karl. Both of these pocketbook manufacturing businesses were probably derived from the former. Charles and Lora lived at their home on Andrew Street, with their divorced son Karl. Lora died in 1939, and Charles died sometime after 1940. Karl remarried but had no children by either marriage.

Hugo F. Engel was born September 6, 1861 in Brooklyn, New York. He married Kate Adelia Gibbs on May 8, 1884 in Athol, Massachusetts, and they had three children: George Gibbs Engel, Thenis Helen Engel, and Edith May Engel. George and his family of 5 children remained in Athol, living with Hugo on Prospect Street until George's death in 1960. George, and then his son Donald, owned Engel Plumbing and Heating that operated in Athol until 1990. Thenis moved to Washington, DC and had one child who died in World War II. Edith never married. Hugo worked at Bates Brothers Wallet Shop, as a foreman from at least 1895. He lived his entire life in Athol at the Engel home on Prospect Street. His wife Kate died before 1930, and Hugo died about 1934. Both are buried in Silver Lake Cemetery in Athol, in the same plot as Hugo and Marie.

Herman F. Engel was born October 20, 1865 in Brooklyn, New York. He married Mary E. King on November 22, 1887 in Athol, Massachusetts, and they divorced sometime after 1900, with no children. Herman moved to Springfield to open up Engel Brothers with his brother Charles. Herman then married Ida E. Kellogg in Springfield about 1920. Herman and Ida also had no children. After Ida died in 1934, Herman owned and lived on a chicken farm outside Springfield. Herman died after 1940, and he and Ida are buried in Springfield with Ida's family.

Ralph W. Engel was born on March 20, 1867 in Brooklyn, New York. A birth was registered in Deerfield for Ralph Angell, but the place of birth on that record is “N.Y.” Perhaps Marie was visiting or living with her sister during her pregnancy? A corresponding birth record in New York, if it exists, has not been located.

Ralph was barely one year old when his father Hugo passed away in 1868. Ralph attended school at least through the age of 13. His 15 year old brother Herman was working at the same time, so Ralph probably left school to work at a similar age. As all his siblings had, Ralph worked at the Bates Brothers Wallet Shop where he was eventually a foreman.

Ralph married Eva Agnes Upham on November 24, 1888 in Athol, Massachusetts. Eva was born July 9, 1869 in Norwich, Connecticut, the daughter of George Richmond Upham and Lucy E. Kemp. The Uphams are a well-documented New England family whose progenitor John Upham arrived from England in Massachusetts in 1635, eight generations before Eva. Through Eva's grandmother Betsey Richmond are direct ancestral connections to five Mayflower passengers, and also makes us 3rd and 4th cousins with two Presidents — John and John Quincy Adams.

Eva also worked at Bates Brothers, up until she gave birth to the first of their four children. Their youngest child died in infancy in 1895. In that same year, Ralph left his family with another girl who also worked at Bates Brothers. They got as far as Wisconsin before the girl had a change of heart and left Ralph, who then committed suicide, dying on September 22, 1895. His wife Eva was just 26 years old at the time, and his three children were 6, 4 and 2.

Eva and her young family moved back in with her parents where she lived for the next 9 years. She married Horace Joseph Bosquet in Worcester in 1904, and they lived in Brockton. Eva died on March 31, 1909 at the age of 39 due to complications giving birth to her daughter Aurelie. Aurelie died just 3 years later at the age of 3 from diphtheria. Eva's children by Ralph were aged 19, 17 and 15.

From Fred's Gift, preserved as written · see the scanned pages →

Ralph and Eva had four children: Bernard, Glenn, Kester, and Rita.

Bernard Hugo Engel, known as Bernie, was born on May 1, 1889 in Athol, Massachusetts. Bernie was almost 20 years old when his mother died, so he was old enough to board on his own with a family in Plymouth rather than return to Athol and his grandparents. He married Mary Ann Clonan on September 28, 1911 in Easton, Massachusetts. They had four children in the 1910s, one of whom died in infancy. Bernie registered for the World War I draft in 1917 but does not appear to have been called up. His wife Mary died a year later, a victim of the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed 3 to 5 percent of the world's population. Their three young children were each given over to family or a friend to be raised. The youngest, Donald William Engel, would settle in Silver Spring, Maryland after a vehicle accident brought him to Walter Reed Hospital after World War II, and his daughter Vicki Lynn Engel Embrey currently resides in Savage, Maryland. Bernie married Lottie Tolman Barker on July 2, 1920, and then Edith Gladys Sloan Baxter on April 22, 1937. He had no children by these wives. Lottie died in 1963, and Bernie and Edith both died in 1971.

Glenn Richmond Engel was born on June 11, 1891 in Athol, Massachusetts. Glenn was 17 when his mother died, and he lived for a couple years with his Upham grandparents before enlisting in the Army in 1911. He served for three years, and then married Helen A. Hunnewell on his 24th birthday in 1915 in Athol. They had three children: Marjorie and Helen would eventually move to California, while Glenn Jr. would remain in Massachusetts. Glenn was a machinist and cook in his earliest jobs, and then he was a fireman in Springfield for 20 years. Sometime after World War II, Glenn and Helen moved out to California with their two daughters. Glenn's wife Helen died in 1962 in Los Angeles, and Glenn himself in 1974 in San Diego.

Rita Helen Engel was born on February 12, 1895 in Athol, Massachusetts. She died just a month and a half later on March 30, 1895 of whooping cough. Rita is buried with her mother in Silver Lake Cemetery.

Kester Rollo Engel, known as Ket, was born on September 1, 1893 in Athol, Massachusetts. Ket was just 2 years old when his father died and his mother moved the family back in with her parents, George and Lucy Upham. He moved to Brockton with his mother when she remarried in 1904, but moved back to Athol and his grandparents when his mother died after giving birth to her daughter in 1909. Ket was 15 at the time.

By 1917 he had moved to Quincy and was working as a machinist, when he enlisted in the Army for World War I. He saw no action and was discharged in 1918.

Ket married Annie Laurie Keddy on November 26, 1919. Annie was born September 8, 1898 in Kentville, Nova Scotia, the daughter of James Lewis Keddy and Mary Ann Lavinia Brown. The Keddy families in Nova Scotia are descended from Annie's 3rd great-grandfather Alexander Kady who immigrated from England in 1759 when Halifax was founded to counteract French settlements in the decade or two before the French and Indian War.

Annie was the youngest of James and Lavinia's eight children: “Fannie”, James, “Tag”, Bird, “Jack”, Lillian, and Evelyn. James died some time before 1911, and Lavinia left Nova Scotia for Massachusetts in 1913, bringing three or four daughters with her, including Annie.

After Ket and Annie married, they lived on Plymouth Street and had two children, Buddy and Bobby. Ket was still a machinist at a tool factory. They were sharing a duplex home with Annie's mother and stepfather on Water Street by 1930. Also living with them at that time was Ket's cousin Doris Warren.

Ket was ill for the last couple years of his life, and he died in Quincy at the age of 40 on July 24, 1934 of a lung and brain abscess. Annie was 35 at the time, and her children were 11 and 7.

After Ket's passing, Annie worked as a salesgirl in a department store. Her oldest son Bernard died in 1938. She married Henry Bremer Moorehouse in 1943 in Quincy. Henry had one son, Frederick, from his previous marriage to Bessie Beer. Henry and Fred both died in 1969.

Annie lived in Quincy for another 10 years, until about 1980 when she moved in with her son Bob in Glen Burnie, Maryland. She died at the age of 85 in Columbia, Maryland on June 21, 1984.

From Fred's Gift, preserved as written · see the scanned pages →

Ket and Annie had two children: Buddy and Bob.

Bernard Lewis Engel, known as Buddy, was born on July 4, 1923 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Buddy was 11 years old when his father died. He was a paperboy when he was a teenager. He died of colitis at the age of 15 on July 13, 1938 in Quincy.

Robert Earl Engel, known as Bob, or Bobby to his grandchildren, was born on January 19, 1927 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Bobby was 7 years old when his father died, and 11 when his brother Buddy died. He lived on Water Street during the '30s and early '40s, with his grandmother Lavinia and her 2nd husband Richard Reed living in the duplex home above his.

Bobby knew Anna Domenica Latini when he was a young boy. Ann was born on April 25, 1929 in Quincy, the youngest of four children of Luigi Latini and Giuseppina Olori, who had both emigrated together from Italy. Luigi and Giuseppina married on July 11, 1912 in Ascoli Piceno, then honeymooned in Naples, and departed from there for New York on the steamship Pannonia. Arriving at Ellis Island on August 3, 1912, they traveled straight to Quincy to stay with Giuseppina's brother Domenico, who later returned to Italy.

Ann's childhood home on Jackson Street backed up to Bobby's — they could each see the other's home from their back yard. Bobby played ball and “relievo” with Ann's brother Fred. Buddy and Bobby each worked paper routes that included the Latini home.

Bob enlisted in the Army in 1944 when he graduated high school at the age of 17. He attended Yale until he turned 18, and he entered boot camp. At a going away party for Bob, his friend Anthony brought Ann as his date. This was the first time Ann saw Bob in his uniform, and afterwards they were “an item”. After a couple semesters at the University of Minnesota learning Japanese, Bob was deployed to Japan as part of the occupation forces after World War II. Ann and Bob wrote to each other during the year that he was away, and they picked up their relationship when he got back.

After he got out of the Army, Bob graduated from Boston University. He worked for a tool company, and then as a milkman. Ann was a stenographer for a gas company, and then a secretary at a chocolate factory. They got engaged in early 1949, and were married on November 19, 1949 in Quincy.

When Bob got a job with the Department of Defense in 1951, he and Ann moved to Arlington, Virginia. Ann learned to drive so she could get to work in Washington, DC. Their first four children — Alan, Bruce, and twins Carol & Christine — were born in Virginia. Bob's job moved to Fort Meade, Maryland in 1960, and so the family moved to Glen Burnie Park in Maryland. Their last four children — David, Elizabeth, and twins Frank & Fred — were all born in Baltimore.

When the youngest of her children reached school age, Ann went back to work, first at the Hochschild Kohn's department store, then as a doctor's office secretary, and finally as the operating room secretary for North Arundel Hospital in Glen Burnie.

The oldest of their children married in 1976, and they became grandparents in 1981 with the birth of David's son Miles. Bob is known as “Bobby” to his grandchildren thanks to Miles mimicking Bob's mother, whose frequent calls for “Bobby” were common in her final years living with Bob and Ann.

Bob and Ann retired from work in the early 1990s, and moved in 2003 to the Charlestown retirement community in Catonsville, where they currently reside. They have 8 children, 23 grand-children, and — so far — 7 great-grandchildren.

From Fred's Gift, preserved as written · see the scanned pages →

This sketch is limited in scope to the known Engel ancestors of my father, Robert Earl Engel, a.k.a. Bob and Bobby, depending on who is doing the calling. It will hopefully be of interest to any of his descendants as a starting point for or augmentation to their own family tree.

The oldest known of these ancestors is just three generations preceding Dad: his great-grandfather Hugo. Given that each person has eight great-grandparents (ignoring intermarriage), this sketch is acknowledged at the outset to be very small part of Dad's and our family tree.

The active pursuit for the information in this tree began for me in the 1990s, with Dad and Mom providing the initial information on themselves, their parents, and grandparents. I quickly realized that getting more information might be difficult as three out of four of my grandparents (Luigi Latini, Giussepina Olori, and Annie Keddy) were born outside of the United States.

So my remaining grandparent, Kester Engel, became the initial focus of my research. Fortunately, Kester was born in New England, which is generally regarded as one of the best regions in the United States for vital records. And even more fortunate, Dad had been given a family tree of the Upham family in 1959 by his grandaunt (great aunt if you prefer) Addie Crowe (née Upham), the sister of his grandmother Eva Upham. Also at my start, our cousin Nancy Latini Barron provided family information for our Latini and Olori ancestors in Italy — she has many documents and photos of our Italian ancestors and relatives.

In the days before widely available access to information on the Internet, new information came slowly as Dad and I visited the Maryland Hall of Records and the National Archives, made many phone calls, and mailed away for certificates and records. By this method we were able to extend the Engel line back to the mid 1800s, thicken up the Upham tree, and identify some of the vital information for James and Lavinia Keddy.

In the past five years many records have been digitized and made available online, allowing for the rapid access to many vital documents that simply were not available in the past. And even more helpful is the collaboration with previously unknown distant cousins who have also been working hard on their own trees that converge with our mutual ancestors. Two “found” cousins in particular that have been helpful in this regard are Vicky Engel Embrey, who has done a lot of research on the Upham and allied families of New England, and Bryan Keddy, who has compiled an extensive tree of the Keddy families in Nova Scotia.

A copy of this document, or any of the information contained in or referred to by this sketch, is available to anyone interested, by sending an email to me at frengel@ymail.com.

From Fred's Gift, preserved as written · see the scanned pages →