Years ago, I was in a public library in Los Angeles and found reference books on family histories. I looked up my family name, Anger. It said the name came from France, from the region of Anjou, with its main city being Angers. I was thrilled with the idea of being French.
When I came home, I told my father. He said “French! No! We’re German.” He had always said when asked that he didn’t know the family origins – “a little bit of everything” was his answer. So I remained convinced that we were French.
Much later, when I started delving into family history and found other family members doing the same, I discovered that Dad and I were both right.
A French and German name
The family was Huguenot or French Protestant. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Protestants in France had to convert to Catholicism or be killed or expelled. Or they fled the country. They went to Protestant countries, among them the territories that became Germany. And that is where the known history of our family starts.
Georg Frederick Anger migrated from Germany to Pennsylvania in 1754. When the American colonies went to war with Britain, Georg Frederick chose the British side and he and his sons fought as Loyalists to the crown. After the war, they moved across the new border and settled in Bertie Township, near Fort Erie. They joined Butler’s Rangers, a British regiment made up of Loyalists.
The Anger men weren’t done with war. In the War of 1812, they again found their new homeland in the midst of American and British conflict. Once again, they fought on the British side against their former countrymen.
Forty years after that, the Angers of Bertie literally found themselves in the midst of battle. In the 1866 Battle of Ridgeway, part of the Fenian Raids in Upper Canada, the Anger homestead was smack in the midst of the battle lines. Bullet holes are still visible in the bricks. The house was turned into a field hospital, being handy to the wounded. (Also see my Battle of Ridgeway.)
Several years ago, my husband and I made a trip to Ridgeway to find the family. First stop was the Ridgeway archives and library.
Ridgeway Cemeteries
The librarian told us that my great-great-great-great-grandparents were buried in the “Coloured Cemetery,” north of Ridgeway near the Anger house. Close to the American border, the area had become home to escaped and freed slaves.
But just when I was thinking with delight about what the Anger place of burial meant for my personal ancestry, the archivist told me it had been the cemetery for everybody in the early days of the settlement. White people, generally, had gravestones. Black people had wooden crosses. The Angers have gravestones.
All the cemeteries near Ridgeway have Angers buried in them. But several of the children of Georg Frederick’s son John Charles moved west. One of them, also named John Charles, had a son Peter who moved to Hazen Settlement in South Walsingham Township, Norfolk County. It is from him that all of us here in Elgin County claim descent. (See my Anger family tree.)
This is for my father, George, who died nine years ago today. He had seen his family history in computer printouts first by my cousin and then by me. Dad and I also came to agree that the family was German and French. The title for this is from his saying about our family name – “Anger by name, Anger by nature.”
Steve Anger
17 Apr 2019Thanks for that great info. Do you have any more info on the “Anger House”. This is the first time I’ve heard of it.
Dorothy
17 Apr 2019Thanks, Steve. I don’t know much more about the house than what’s here. It’s a beautiful place. Google Ridgeway Boarding Kennels. That’s it, at the corner of Ridge Road N and Bertie Street. Also on Ridgeway, Ontario, History Facebook page there’s a lot of old photos, newspaper clippings etc. including some about the Angers and the house. It’s a closed group, but worth joining.
RonaLee Syme nee Anger
6 Nov 2017Will there be another Anger family reunion in Ontario? I would love to attend and try to find more info on our Anger ancestors. Looking over your blog I see a lot of names I remember hearing as a child. Please let me know if anything is planned for the near future. Thanks.
Dorothy
6 Nov 2017Hi RonaLee, I don’t know if there are any Anger reunions coming up. But, maybe if there are, someone reading this will tell us. If so, I’ll post it on the front page. Thanks for writing.
CL Marsh
23 Mar 2015Thank you Dorothy. I’m making a tree for one of Virginia Mabee’s daughters and she is delighted with your website and the photos of her Mom as a toddler.
Dorothy
24 Mar 2015Hi, thanks for writing. I’m so glad you and Virginia’s daughter found my site and the photos of her mother!
Tim Crowley
12 May 2013I live very close to the field hospital house. I’ve tried to buy it but no success. Your family name is familiar. The interesting thing historically about that house is that it was the location where the British formed the last infantry square in their history.
God Bless
Dorothy
12 May 2013Hi Tim, thanks for the information about the infantry square. I didn’t know that. It’s a beautiful house, I see why you would like it. The whole area near it is lovely. I don’t know how many Angers live around Fort Erie, but most of the children of the original settlers stayed there so there are probably still a lot. Thanks for writing.
Chris Anger
17 Aug 2021There are quite a few of Angers what live in Welland as well
Dorothy
17 Aug 2021Hi Chris, yes, in my adding on to the family tree, I’ve discovered more in the Welland area. We’re everywhere, it seems! 😉
Allan Anger
24 Nov 2011Thanks
Dorothy
24 Nov 2011You’re welcome, sonny junior