Angell was the son of
James Burrill Angell and Sarah Swope Caswell, and was named for his maternal grandfather,
Alexis Caswell, later President of
Brown University. Angell was 14 when his family moved to
Ann Arbor,
Michigan when his father was appointed President of the University of Michigan. In 1880, he married Fanny Cary Cooley, daughter of Law Professor
Thomas McIntyre Cooley. ==Other activities==