My Genealogy Hound

EGAR H. ANDREWS is one of the most popular and best known young farmers in Buffalo county, and was born in Williamstown, Vt., Jan, 3, 1855. His father, David Andrews, was born in Cabot, Vt., August 1, 1821; was reared on a farm and upon arriving at the age of maturity chose farming as his occupation. He married Elizabeth House, daughter of Halsey House, a native of Vermont, who died about 1868.

The senior Andrews came West about the close of the war, and resided at Black Hawk, Colo., for a short time; but, not being pleased with the appearance of the country in that region, he retraced his foot-steps, stopping at Grinnell, Iowa, where he purchased land and immediately engaged in farming. His experience in the field of agriculture at this point extended over a period of eight years. He was not satisfied, however, and, disposing of his chattels and realty, he moved to Buffalo county, Nebr., arriving here in the spring of 1873. After prospecting about for a short time he purchased a quarter section of land on the banks of the Wood river in Centre township, where the soil, for richness and fertility, cannot be excelled in the county. He then and there decided to make this his permanent home, and seventeen years of marvelous development have proven the wisdom of his decision. He and his estimable wife are still living in the enjoyment of a ripe old age of almost three score years and ten.

E. H. Andrews, the subject proper of this brief memoir, was only eighteen years old when he came with his father to Buffalo county, but he had faith in the great future development of the Platte valley and took advantage of the exceedingly low price of land by purchasing two hundred and eighty acres in the Wood River valley in Centre township. The country then was one vast desert of unbroken prairie, and farming, as one can well imagine, was not a very paying business for the first three or four years. The grasshopper plague in 1874—5-6, was one of the most vexatious and discouraging things with which the early settlers had to contend. Fields of waving corn which gave every promise of an abundant crop in the morning, would be stripped of every vestige of life by nightfall. The destruction was not so great the next year, but the third was simply a repetition of the first. Many, disheartened and on the very verge of starvation, returned to their former places of habitation, while others, some of whom did not have the means to get away with, remained. The next year a bountiful crop was harvested and the few remaining settlers renewed their courage and went forward, improving and developing the country, until now they know no such thing as a failure of crops. Young Andrews was one of the few who never lost faith in the future of the new country; but, instead, redoubled his energies in the midst of famine, and was prepared to welcome the new era of prosperity with a smile of serene confidence.

E. H. Andrews was married September 14, 1880, to Miss Carrie Longstreet, who was born in Syracuse, N. Y., December 11, 1858. She is the daughter of Cornelius and Esther Longstreet, both natives of New York, the former having been born October 11, 1833, and the latter December 27, 1830. Her father was a farmer and mechanic, and for three years was paymaster on board a ship. They were both strictly religious people and active members of the Methodist church. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews has resulted in the birth of two children — Abbie, born July 15, 1883 (deceased), and Bessie, born September 5, 1885.

Mr. Andrews has always exhibited a fondness for fine stock, and his efforts for several years have been directed toward the production of the very best horses, cattle and hogs. Besides being quite an extensive dealer in cattle and hogs, he makes a specialty of pure-bred horses. His stables contain several as fine specimens of imported Clydesdale and Norman stallions as the foreign markets afford. He also has a few imported brood-mares of the same pure blood, and takes great pains in raising their progeny. He believes the best is always the cheapest, and that it costs no more to raise a pure-bred horse than it does an inferior one. Mr. Andrews is a young man of good education, full of the vigor of life, and thoroughly posted on the leading issues of the day. He has several times been honored with the secretaryship of the Buffalo county agricultural society, and, in fact, is one of the rising young men of the county.