In seeking the ancestry of Peter Antle of Virginia, the first documented member of the American Antle/Antills, one must examine the 75 year period before Peter's approximate birth: 1650-1730. According to the Latter Day Saints IGI database, the Antle/Antill/Antel/Anthill family is largely English in origin with 378 persons born between 1580 and 1800.
During this period, there were six major concentrations of Antills, making up over 80% of the Antills in England at this time (and over 93% of the male Antills born 1655-1725). They were located in 6 parish areas:
Henry Antill of Minchinhampton
My hypothesis is that Peter's father is probably Henry Antill of Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. The following is my reasoning:
Peter, who starts his own family around 1750, was almost certainly born between 1710 and 1725, which places the likely birthdate of Peter's father between 1670 and 1700. There are only six Antill males born in England during this period, and there is evidence that four did not leave England. One of the remaining two candidates is Thomas, born 1696 or 1700 in Chessington, Surrey, to Charles Antill. Since Peter failed to name any of his three sons Thomas or Charles, that effectively eliminates this person to my satisfaction.
That leaves Henry Antill of Minchinhampton, third son of James Antil, head of England's most prolific Antill clan - centered in Horsley England. Henry married Margery Smith in 1709, fathered a son James in 1713 (no mother listed) and then (with son) disappears from his family records.
In Virginia, around 1750, Peter Antle names his first son Henry. His second son is named Jacob; the third son is Peter. The only Antill clan that used "Jacob" as a name in all of England from 1580 to the mid 1800s is the same Horsley Antill clan - as a nickname for James! In addition, the only Peter Antill in the UK documented by the LDS during this 250 year period is also a member of the Horsley, Gloucestershire clan (b. 1802).
In addition to this Christian-name pattern, of the first seven surnames that appear on record with the Virginian Antills (witnessing wills, marrying Antill sons) - Abrelle, Elledge, Godfrey, Rippetoe, Dawkins, Hinton, and Riddle - all but Rippetoe are found in Gloucestershire (the Abrelles almost exclusively).
It is the belief of this author, that Henry Antill, with young sons James and Peter left England before 1725 and came to Virginia or North Carolina. I believe that the Henry Antill was travelling with one or both parents of John Riddeau/Rippetoe who subsequently fathered one Will Rippetoe to whom Peter's oldest daughter Ruth Ann was married in 1770. To date, however, my research has not unearthed a single record of Henry Antill's arrival or existence here.
The German Red Herring
It must be pointed out that in addition to the 378 English Antills of the 17th and 18th century, the LDS also lists 6 Antel/Andles in Germany (Prussia and Bavaria) in that time. Indeed, one of these Germans is a Peter Antel who landed in Philadelphia Nov. 22, 1752 aboard the Ship Phoenix (according to Rupp's "30,000 German Immigrants to Philadelphia". It is indeed tantalizing to rush to the conclusion that this is Virginia Peter.
However, the LDS lists the birthdate of Peter Antle's first daughter Ruth Ann in Virginia as Feb. 5, 1751, and Peter's eldest son Henry was probably born within a year earlier or later. If this is correct, German Peter Antel cannot be the founder of the Virginia Antill family.
In addition, immigrants almost always traveled in groups of families. In the early days of Frederick County, most English/Scotch immigrants settled to the east of Opequon Creek, and German/Dutch families arriving from Pennsylvannia located to the west. Peter Antle selected the east and lived among almost exclusively English settlers. If Peter Antle was German, he was an unusual man indeed. Though I have evenly considered this, I conclude this coincidence is misleading.
