There is an old farmhouse set a little way back off Winn Road that has been there for over 150 years and is still in the family today. Pioneer George Andrews was born in Essex, MA on January 23, 1813, the eldest of ten children born to Tyler and Eunice Andrews. When he was nine years old, he left home and made his way in the world. In the spring of 1838, he came west and landed in Chicago. He settled on 40 acres on Winn Road in 1843 when he was 30 years old and was awarded a land grant from President James Polk in 1845. George was first married to Cordelia M. Allen in 1840. They had three children from 1841-1845, but in 1847 she died, along with a new baby, leaving George with three boys: Henry, John, and Allen ages 6, 4, and 2.
In 1850, George married Mariam Coon (who had a six-year-old daughter, Helen) and they had one child together – Charles G., who was born in 1853. Charles grew up on the farm but it seems he had other aspirations. In March 1876, when he was 23, the newspaper said he was going to leave and, “go to the Black Hills [South Dakota] if fish don’t run soon. Be sure and give one of those yelps and make the red skins clear out, so they won’t scalp you and your friends”. Apparently, the fish ran, because on July 2, 1876 he married Emily Thompson in Spring Grove. In 1880 they lived with George on the farm who was now a widower again as Mariam died in 1878.
They had eleven children together, but only three survived: Lydia, born in 1880, Frank, born in 1886, and Marion, born in 1895. The year 1900 was quite momentous for the family. Daughter Lydia married John Waspi on April 25, George died in September leaving the farm to Charles and Emily, and in November Charles suffered a frightful accident.
First, in November 1899, the newspaper reported Joseph James was a “second victim” in Charles’ corn shredding machine but luckily only lost the tip of his middle finger. But one year later, in November 1900, Charles was at work feeding the corn shredder at Edwin Halderman’s, when his left hand and arm to the elbow was mangled in the machine. The newspaper reported, “With his usual grit he walked home at once and as Dr. Fegers was passing through the village, medical help was quickly obtained, and the injured member was amputated just below the elbow. As Mr. Andrews some years ago lost part of the thumb of his right hand and has lately used his left hand, the accident is a doubly hard one. He is as comfortable as can be expected at present.”
In 1905, Charles and Emily sold the farm to daughter Lydia and her husband, John Waspi, and left with a carful of household goods and farming implements for Cotter, Arkansas, where they had purchased a home. Emily had health issues that improved in the warmer climate.
Five years later, in 1910, Charles finally achieved his dream of going west, for the census finds them in Central Point, Oregon where Charles worked as a gold miner! By 1914 they moved back to Cotter, Arkansas - but were back in Spring Grove in 1916 when Charles died at age 63. Emily then made her home with her daughter and son-in-law until her death in 1929 at age 74.
Charles and Emily are buried together in Spring Grove Cemetery located just east of 1813 Main Street. George and Mariam are also buried there but no headstones exist, and no records were ever kept, so there is no way of knowing exactly where they are. It is also possible that George’s first wife, Cordelia, and the baby, is buried there as she died in 1847 and the first occupant of Spring Grove Cemetery is thought to be Joseph Bliven, who died in 1846, only one year earlier.
Story by Laura Frumet
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