John B. Andrews

JOHN B. ANDREWS. Cowley County knew John B. Andrews during the later period of a very active and strenuous time. Mr. Andrews was one of Arkansas City's substantial business men and highly esteemed citizens, and died there August 7, 1913. His was a long life, and it was lived in a number of different places, practically all over the West.

He was born at Massena, New York, June 9, 1837, and he was seventy-six years of age when he died. His father, John B. Andrews, Sr., owned a large part of the townsite of Massena, New York, built the first store there, and that old building is still standing. John B. Andrews, Sr., was a native of New Hampshire, and died at Massena, New York. The late Mr. Andrews grew up in Massena, attended the common schools, and received the degree A. B. from the Gouverneur Institute of New York.

On completing his education he went to what was then the Far Northwest, and for two years served as assistant postmaster at Minneapolis. In 1861 he went out to California, locating at Eureka, where he did mining, bought gold, bought and sold general merchandise and also conducted the postoffice. He was the chief business man at Eureka for eight years. During the Civil war he served on the coast defense in California, and had a commission as an officer.

After his strenuous participation in California business life he returned to New York City for a rest, and then again removed to Minnesota. At Winona, in that state, he spent eight or nine years in the fur trade and as a wholesale milliner. Mr. Andrews came to Southern Kansas in 1880. He had been successful in his previous ventures and he used his capital to buy 3,000 acres east of Arkansas City and made it a large sheep ranch. He continued sheep raising for a number of years. In 1888 he removed to Arkansas City and entered the real estate business as member of the firm of Andrews & Sherburn, his associate being Joseph Sherburn. This subsequently, about 1896, was reorganized as the Kansas Realty Company, and Mr. Andrews remained president until he retired in 1910.

The late Mr. Andrews was a business man of great energy, of sterling integrity, and commanded the respect of his associates to the last degree. He was public spirited, and was one of the active workers for the welfare of Arkansas City. He served as clerk of the Commercial Club, and was always ready to further any movement for community good. He was a republican, and one of the most active supporters of the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally he was affiliated with Eureka (California) Lodge, Knights of Pythias, during the early days of the Golden State.

Mr. Andrews is survived by his widow, Mrs. Georgia (Eames) Andrews, who for a number of years has taken a very prominent part in women's and social affairs in Arkansas City. She is one of the most liberal supporters and workers in the Presbyterian Church, and for the past ten years has been president of the Fortnightly Club.

Miss Georgia Eames, which was her name before marriage, was born in Westboro, Massachusetts, December 27, 1862. She was educated at Hartford, Connecticut, attending the Brown Seminary there, and after her education was finished she rejoined her parents in Kansas. Her father had come out to the state in 1867. For a term and a half she taught school near Holton, Kansas, finishing out the term of a teacher who had been unable to continue her work on account of illness.

The Eames family came out of England and were colonial settlers in Massachusetts. Mrs. Andrews' father was Col. C. A. Eames, who was born in Upton, Massachusetts, in 1817, and died at Whiting, Kansas, in 1897. He spent his early life at Upton, was married at Westboro, was a boot and shoe manufacture, lived at Bridgeport, Connecticut, one year, and then went to Broylesville, Tennessee, where he continued the same business for several years. He went to Tennessee in 1850 and was in that state until after the close of the war. He was a stanch Union man and gave every aid he could to the Federal armies during the war. He helped raise and equip regiments, and furnished materials and money to the armies, and was granted many tokens of appreciation for these services and was commissioned colonel. After the war, in 1867, Colonel Eames removed to Whiting, Kansas, bought land, and subsequently engaged in the mercantile business there. Mrs. Andrews still owns his old farm of 450 acres near Whiting. Colonel Eames served as postmaster both in Tennessee and at Whiting, Kansas. He was always active in politics and civic affairs in whatever locality he lived. As a republican he was a member of the County Central Committee and often a delegate at state conventions. His political actions were not inspired by a desire for office, but rather from a love of political contests and for the good of his party and his community. Colonel Eames was almost a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church, served as elder a number of years and was also superintendent of his Sunday school.

Colonel Eames married Meltina Batheric. She was born at Westboro, Massachusetts, in 1829, and died at Telford, Tennessee, in 1868. Their children were: Alice Lavinia, wife of William Mercer, a contractor at Whiting, Kansas; Frank C., a farmer at Whiting, married Laura Shellinberger; the third in the family is Mrs. Andrews; Mary is the wife of J. C. Witt, a music dealer at Clinton, Missouri; Henry A. is a stock buyer at Woodward, Oklahoma, and married Mecy Harrison. Mrs. Andrews' grandfather was Moses Eames, who was born at Upton, Massachusetts, and died at Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1870. He was a boot and shoe manufacturer at Upton, where he spent most of his life. He married a Miss Fay.

Miss Georgia Eames was married in 1882 at Bolton, Kansas, to Willis A. Godard. Her husband was a physician and surgeon, and practiced in Chicago and afterwards in Canyon City, Colorado, where he died in 1891. Mrs. Andrews' only children are by her first husband, and both are now deceased. They were Charles Emery, who died at the age of three weeks; and Ina Eames, who also died in infancy. Mrs. Andrews was married to the late John B. Andrews at Marion, Kansas; in 1900.

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BIOGRAPHIES — VOLUMES 3, 4, & 5
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