Andrews Family History, Part I

Our branch of the Andrews family begins in Oneida County in central New York in 1797 with the birth of Nathan Andrews². Although the Erie Canal, which cut through Oneida County, opened in 1825, Nathan moved to Oswego County along New York's Lake Ontario shoreline to start his family. There they stayed for about eight years before briefly moving to Trumbull County in northeastern Ohio and then backtracking slightly to Amity, Erie County, Pennsylvania by 1835. In 1852, Nathan resettled in Graham Township, Johnson County, Iowa, where his eldest son, Orrin³, followed him and settled as well.

Around 1868, Nathan moved once more, this time to Morro, San Luis Obispo, California. His granddaughter, Candace Mandana (Andrews) Miller⁴ settled in San Luis Obispo County as well, two years later.

Andrews¹

X. The father of our ancestor Nathan Andrews may also have been named Nathan Andrews. According to the obituary of Eber Andrews, a likely elder son, the Andrews family started in Connecticut and moved to Bridgewater, Oneida County, New York, “in a timber wagon drawn by oxen,” when Eber was three years old (about 1793). A Nathan Andrews is found in the 1800 through 1820 censuses of Bridgewater, Oneida County, New York, the birthplace of our Nathan. In 1800 Nathan was noted as being 26 to 44 years of age, indicating he was born between 1756 and 1773^{[Cen 1800]}. At the time he had five children: two boys and two girls under the age of 10 and one boy between the ages of 10 and 15. 20 years later he had six children at home: one boy under the age of 10, two girls between 10 and 15, and a son and daughter between the ages of 16 and 26. His wife apparently had passsed on prior to 1820.^{[Cen 1800,1810,1820]} His family may have looked something like this: