Remarkable Vans Agnew

With most of the Vans Agnew siblings being born in India in the 1860s, one of the eldest sons, Frank “Tosh/Tertius” Vans Agnew, boasts an illustrious career in the military, an assayer of gold and copper mines in Western Canada and Kazakhstan, and an orange grower in Florida

Another brother, Ernest (E.G.) George “Quartus” Vans Agnew, being a one-time editor of the local paper, The Kissimmee Gazette, was a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College in 1895 and served as a veterinary surgeon of the Civil Veterinary Service attached to the British Army.

A great relative, who resides in Cardiff, Wales (UK), was able to share some images of her great uncles and Olivia’s sister, Marian Fell Vans Agnew, who was her grandmother. Many British families, including Fell, Vans Agnew, and Cadman, bought acres of raw Florida frontier that would become the English colony of Narcoossee. Patrick Alexander (P.A.) “Alec” Vans Agnew, later brother-in-law to Nelson Fell, was an admired attorney who founded the Friends of the Seminoles, persuading both federal governments and the state to set up Florida’s first reservations. P.A. Vans Agnew negotiated private land sales and when deemed necessary, used personal funds. As a city attorney for Kissimmee, he also is credited for writing the world’s first ordinance regulating aviation in 1908.

P.A. Vans Agnew and his younger brother Frank “Tertius” had grown up family friends of the Fells’ and shared extensive travels from Florida to London, then spanning Europe to Central Asia to negotiate silver and copper mine investments. Such experiences eirpences dwarfed by the thirteen months Tertius had endured as a prisoner of war in WWI. P.A. Vans Agnew had built a home on Paradise Island in Lake Tohopekaliga while his brother was serving, and the families would experience joyous times, such as marriages and births. The Fell sisters would lose their younger brother Nelson in 1926 in a tragic car accident, but two years later, in 1928, Oliva Fell would marry the courageous Capt. Frank “Tertius” Vans Agnew. One can read more about his captivating career in the British military in his book, Veteran Volunteer: Memoir of the Trenches, Tanks and Captivity 1914 – 1918.

Osceola History was able to share images within our picture postcard collection with a great relative of the Vans Agnew family, Mrs. Jamie Vans. And snapshots of a younger Tertius have been found in local scrapbooks owned by Ms. Matty “Mattie” Stanford. It is truly remarkable to uncover the early relationships and family ties of Osceola County. Through picture postcard images and letters, one can capture the first loves and notable moments in one’s life. The youngest brother, E.G Vans Agnew, is buried at historic Rose Hill Cemetery alongside his wife Florence. But other memorials for the Vans Agnew family members exist in Virginia and all the way to Galloway, Scotland.