Angstadt, William Alvin “Bill”
Louise (Roberts) Angstadt (1890-1987)
Father: Daniel Angstadt
Mother: Sarah Jane ( ) Angstadt
Sons: Solomon (1910-1997), William Henry, Alonzo Daniel (1908-1988), George Albert (1915-1995)
Daughters: Mary Jane (Angstadt) McDermot, Sarah Josephine (Angstadt) Pritchett (1913-1999) “Sally”
William Alvin “Bill” Angstadt was born on May 10, 1864 in Pennsylvania, USA. He married Louisa Josephine Roberts on August 11, 1906, at the home of Alonzo Roberts in Aspen Grove, BC. He died on July 29, 1956 at the Princeton General Hospital.
Angstadt emigrated to BC in 1891. He settled in the Aspen Grove area where he was a prospector, rancher, justice of the peace, and a postmaster. He moved to Princeton around 1946.
In Princeton Our Valley, he was remembered to be of German [he was of Dutch descent] descent, and would “play his accordion all night.”
Prospecting
In August 1900, the Similkameen Star reported that he held the “Enterprise” mining claim at Aspen Grove and that he had “uncovered some first-class ore” on his claim (May 1901). In December of that same year, he became a partner with W.T. Shatford, Con Murphy, and Dad Allan. They called the group of claims “the Vancouver group.” (1902).
A few years later, in June 1904, the Similkameen Star reported that: “Dad Allen and Wm. Angstadt have been working all winter on the Westminster group and have a good showing of copper glance.”
From F.W. Groves Notebook: He had a mining claim B36043 3 miles east of Dodd’s ranch. This claim adjoined the Happy Jack, Colorado, and Little Lottie claims. It was located on March 22, 1901.
Ranching
Angstadt held at least 120 acres (the size of a homestead grant) in the Aspen Grove area. In early 1946, Aspen Grove Lodges, headed by A.S. Baillie, vice-president and general manager of the Granby Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company “purchased nearly 20,000 acres in the Aspen Grove district between Merritt and Spences Bridge. The Portland ranch of 17,000 acres, the Mackenzie ranch of 1,700 acres and 160 acres by W.A. Angstadt are included in the sale.”
Postmaster
Bill Angstadt was the postmaster at Aspen Grove from March 19, 1920 to May 11, 1920, between December 5, 1922 to July 1, 1926, and between October 9, 1929 to January 18, 1946.
Justice of the Peace
In the December 1923 Princeton Star column “Princeton Paragraphs,” the newspaper noted that: “William A. Angstadt of Aspen Grove has been appointed a justice of the peace.”
Obituary (Vancouver Province)
Princeton Our Valley, pages 150, 232, 233; F.W. Groves Notebook; Death registration (BC Archives); British Columbia Postal History Research Group, Volume 19 number 4, December 2010, page 663; The Nicola Herald, August 16, 1906, page 1; The Similkameen Star, August 18, 1900, page 9; May 25, 1901, page 1; December 6, 1902, page 1; June 25, 1904, page 1; December 14, 1923, page 5; The Princeton Star, February 28, 1946, page 5