Elgin A. Angell

Elgin Adelbert Angell's grandson, Roger Angell, wrote in The New Yorker magazine (February 21-28, 2000, "THE KING OF THE FOREST; Living with a father's demanding spirit," pg. 120):

"[My grandfather was] a slight, almost frail man, who had been crippled by childhood polio. My father didn't know him for long, in any case. Elgin Adelbert Angell was aboard the French liner La Bourgogne — one of the last North Atlantic blue-ribbon ships with masts as well as steam — which sank, en route to France on July 4, 1898, off Sable Island, southeast of Nova Scotia, after a dawn collision with a British merchant vessel, Cromartyshire, with the loss of five hundred and forty-nine lives. It was a famous marine disaster of its day. My grandfather, a Cleveland lawyer, had embarked the day before, and was looking forward to a reunion with his wife and daughter — my father's younger sister, Hildegarde — who had been in Europe for six months. The story behind this is that my grandmother had exhausted herself nursing my father through a long bout of typhoid, and had been sent abroad, on doctor's advice, to recover her health. My father, who had just turned nine, had been booked aboard La Bourgogne as well, but he came down with chicken pox and had to be left behind. Fortuitously, my grandmother's brother, Frederick Curtis, was the head of a small school for boys in Brookfield, Connecticut; my father had been enrolled there during his mother's absence, and there the disappointed patient had to remain, while his father went on alone. My father never said much about this episode in his life, but he did once tell me that his Uncle Fred, who had a long beard, used to make the rounds in his nightshirt, carrying a candle, to kiss each of the boys good night. I don't know when my father got word about La Bourgogne or how many weeks or months went by before he was reunited with his mother and sister, but this Dickensian scene is what comes to mind when I try to imagine the moment: the wavering candle held by his approaching, sadly murmuring uncle, who wakes him up for the bad news."

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Elgin Adelbert Angell's wife, Lily Angell (Curtis) wrote a book: "In memoriam : Elgin Adelbert Angell, 1849-1898." A citation for this publication, listing libraries where the book and/or microfilmed version can be found is displayed online at worldcat.org: Author: Lily Curtis Angell, Publisher: [S.l. : s.n., 1898?], Series: 19th-century legal treatises, no. 5706.

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Note of Elgin A. Angell's degrees from Harvard:

"Angell, Elgin Adelbert: Harvard A.B. (History) 1873, LL.B. (Law) 1875"

Source: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. "Universities and their sons; history, influence and characteristics of American universities, with biographical sketches and portraits of alumni and recipients of honorary degrees. v. 5"

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A note about Elgin Angell's death at sea noted his law office as "Webster, Angell &, Cook"

Source: "Men of Ohio in 1900" downloaded 2011 from www.archive.org

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Elgin Angell is mentioned in a short bio of Robert E. McKisson, mayor of Cleveland in 1895-99, regarding McKisson's having practiced law with Angell and Webster in 1891:

MCKISSON, ROBERT ERASTUS (30 Jan. 1863-14 Oct. 1915), mayor of Cleveland (1895-99), was born in Northfield, Ohio, to Martin Van Buren and Finette Adeline Eldridge McKisson. He came with his family to Cleveland in the early 1870s, and moved to LaGrange, Ohio in 1879. He enrolled in Oberlin Preparatory School in 1885 and came to Cleveland in 1887 to study law in the offices of THEODORE E. BURTON†. Admitted to the bar in 1889, he practiced law with John Webster and Elgin Angell in 1891.

McKisson was elected to Cleveland City Council in 1894 and became an active critic of the Democratic administration of Mayor ROBT. BLEE†, succeeding Blee as mayor in 1895. During his 2 terms, construction was begun on a new city water and sewer system, the CUYAHOGA RIVER was widened and straightened to facilitate steamer traffic, and 5 new bridges were built across the river. McKisson built a local political machine loyal to him and challenged MARCUS A. HANNA† for control of the Republican party. In 1898, he and Hanna were rival candidates for the U.S. Senate, and McKisson came very close to defeating Hanna. McKisson was defeated for reelection as mayor in 1899, after which he retired from politics, returned to law practice, and became a partner in the firm of McKisson & Minshall in 1905. He married Celia Launette Watring in 1891; they were divorced in 1900. He married Mamie Marie Langenau in 1901; they were divorced in 1912. He married Pauline E. Reed of Buffalo 3 weeks before his death in Cleveland. McKisson had no children from any of these marriages. He died in Cleveland and was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.

   Campbell, Thomas F. "Background for Progressivism" (Master's thesis, Dept. of History, WRU, 1960).

Source: Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: MCKISSON, ROBERT ERASTUS Downloaded 2011 from ech.cwru.edu.

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There is citation of a photograph of "Angell, Elgin A. (Ernest), AB 1873" in the inventory of Harvard University's collection of photographs of people:

Repository: Harvard University Archives Call No.: HUP Title: Photographs : portrait files Quantity: ca. 20,000 photographs Abstract: Photographs of individuals associated with Harvard University: faculty, students, administrators, staff, honorees, and habitués of Harvard Square. For those whose lives pre-date the era of photography, the contents of the folders are often photographic reproductions of other image types, such as etchings, paintings, or drawings. In a few cases, the images themselves may be original etchings or sketches. Downloaded 2011 from http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hua04006#tar_A