LAUDERDALE COUNTY, ALABAMA
BIOGRAPHIES

ROBERT ANDREWS, mayor of Florence, and register and master in chancery of Lauderdale county, was born in Florence, August 10, 1842. He is the son of Robert and Martha (Jackson) Andrews, the former of whom was a native of Lancaster, Penn., and who came to Alabama at an early age. Settling in Lauderdale County, he followed farming and merchandising in Florence as a member of the firm of Kirkman & Andrews. His death occurred in 1847. Mrs. Martha Andrews was born in Nashville, Tenn., and was the daughter of James Jackson, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Lauderdale county. Capt. Andrews was educated at the North Carolina Military Institute at Charlotte, under Gen. D. H. Hill, and afterward at Stewart's college, Clarksville, Tenn., where he was at the beginning of the war. He immediately left college and returned home. In the fall of 1861 he joined the Twenty-seventh Alabama infantry as a private soldier. He was promoted to first lieutenant at Fort Donelson, and upon the re-organization of the company he was elected captain. He was captured at Fort Donelson and held prisoner of war seven months, two months at Camp Chase and five at Johnson's Island. He was wounded at New Hope Church, Ga., in May, 1864, and was in the hospital six months. He surrendered at Jackson, Miss., September 16, 1865. After the war he returned to Florence, and then spent about twelve months in merchandising in Greene county. In 1872 he returned to Florence and engaged in the insurance business until 1878, and in February of that year, he was appointed register in chancery by the Hon. H. C. Speake, and since then he has been twice appointed by the Hon. Tobias Cobbs, and is now serving his third term. Capt. Andrews was elected mayor of Florence in December, 1889, for one year, and he has since been twice re-elected. He served two years as United States commissioner, and then resigned. He is a mater Mason, is a member of the grand lodge of the K. P., and has filled the chairs of subordinate lodges. [Memorial Record of Alabama. Vol. II. Brant & Fuller. Madison, Wis., 1893.p. 356]

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