BURIALS: Mathias Angel and family's bodies were originally interred near Angel Mounds located at the NW intersection of South Green River Road and Covert Avenue, Knight Township, Vanderburgh County, Indiana. Due to archeological interest in ancient native American research, their graves were relocated to Park Lawn Cemetery in the 1960's. Archaeological research on human skeletons excavated from Mound F at Angel Mounds State Historic Site was recovered in the 1940s and determined to be Euro-American based on the presence of a single Historic gravestone and several pieces of coffin hardware. During a recent rehousing of the Euro-American individuals, several were discovered to have blue-green staining on their crania with cooper testing.

HISTORY - ANGEL MOUNDS: Roving bands of Shawnee, Miami, and other groups moved into this area about 1650 A. D., long after the Mississippians abandoned the town at Angel, Indiana. Later, white settlers farmed the land. Much like the Native Americans, they were lured by the rich soil and temperate growing season. One of the families to settle in Southwestern Indiana was headed by Mathias Angel. He had a farmstead on the site of Angel Mounds from 1852 until his death in 1899. His brothers owned adjacent farms, and the land remained in the Angel family until 1938. Angel Mounds State Historic Site is named after this family. In 1938, the Indiana Historical Society purchased 480 acres of the Angel family property to protect the historically valuable site.

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MATHIAS ANGELS' FARMSTEAD

During the late spring of 1989, the Indiana University Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology field school uncovered debris from an early 19th century Euro-american farmstead during excavations at Angel Mounds State Park Historic Site in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. A small area of the site southwest of Mound A was selected for archaeological test excavations after geomagnetic and soil resistivity surveys showed significant anomalies. A large amount of historical debris was recovered and a cistern was partially excavated. Analysis of 3128 ceramic shards indicated that a relatively poor household lived in this portion of the site during the mid-1800s. Analysis of bottle shapes and manufacturing techniques of the glass remains confirm a date of occupation in the mid-1800s. Two coins dating to 1851 and 1869 were recovered. Archival research indicated that the area of the excavation had been the site of Mathias Angels' (1819-1899) farmstead.

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Mathias Angel emigrated to Vanderburgh County with his parents in the early 1820s from Surrey County, North Carolina. The farmstead was built sometime in the 1830s or 40s, on land owned by the Lane family. It was not until 1852 that Mathias Angel purchased the property from Simon Lane. Mathias Angel and his family lived on the farmstead until his death in 1899. The property remained within the family until the farmstead was salvaged for building materials in the early 1900s. The movement of the Angel family into Indiana was part of a larger migration into the Old Northwest from the Upland South that occurred during that period. The settlement pattern of Mathias Angel and his brothers followed the typical Upland South model. They settled in adjacent farmsteads, reflecting the importance of the extended kin group as a communal labor unit. Mathias' varied occupations during his life (farmer, grocer, flat boater) also reflected the diversified subsistance base common among Upland South settlers. Emigrants from the Upland South formed the majority of early settlers in southern Indiana.

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BURIALS: Mathias and his family were buried at the cemetery located at the NW intersection of South Green River Road and Covert Avenue. The graves removed to Park Lawn Cemetery in the 1960's. Archaeological research on human skeletons excavated from Mound F at Angel Mounds State Historic Site was recovered in the 1940s and determined to be Euro-American based on the presence of a single Historic grave stone and several pieces of coffin hardware. During a recent rehousing of the Euro-American individuals, several were discovered to have blue-green staining on their crania with cooper testing.

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Info below from Carolyn Wooton on 21 March 2015:

Census 1850 listed as Cyrus Angel born in Ohio with wife Elizabeth and Joseph L. Angel age 1.

Census 1860 listed as Mathias Angel with wife Martha, children Joseph, Edgar, Eugene, Winnie and Albert.

1880 Census, Knight, Vanderburgh County, Indiana: Mathias Angel 59; Elizabeth Angel 54; Winnie Angel 24; A. J. Angel 17; George B. Angel 14; Melissa Angel 12; Mcclellan Angel 10; Albert Angel 21.

Willard library Evansville, IN reference by Frances Leach - Cyrus Mathias Angel son of Joshua and Mary Vincent GRANTOR ANGEL; b. ca 1820 prob. Gallipolis, OH; d. 8 Feb 1899 Vanderburgh Co, IN; marr. 10 Nov 1844 Vandenburgh Co, IN to Elizabeth Martha MURPHY, who was b. 1824 and d. 23 June 1894 Vandenburgh Co, IN.