One of the venerable but still vigorous and active members of the bar of
Jackson county is Judge George Washington Andrews, who established his home
in Murphysboro and here engaged in the practice of his profession nearly
half a century ago. The intervening years have been marked by large and
distinguished accomplishment along the line of his profession, of which he
has long stood as one of the leading representatives in Southern Illinois,
and he has also been called upon to serve in various offices of distinctive
public trust, the while he has guided his course upon the highest plane of
integrity and honor and .thus has well merited the unequivocal confidence
and esteem in which he is held in the prosperous community that has so long
been his home and in which he is a citizen of prominence and influence.
Judge Andrews takes a due measure of pride in reverting to the fine Old
Buckeye state as the place of his nativity and he is a scion of one of its
sterling pioneer families. He was born at Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio,
now one of the most beautiful cities of the state, and the date of his
nativity was February 22, 1842, so that he was consistently given the name
of the great American on whose birthday anniversary he was ushered into the
world. He is a son of Samuel A. and Margaret (Ramsey) Andrews, who passed
the closing years of their lives at Dayton, the father having been actively
identified with agricultural pursuits during virtually his entire career and
having been a man of the highest character, so that he ever commanded a
secure place in the confidence and esteem of his fellow men, the while his
forceful individuality and broad mentality made him a local leader in
thought and action. Judge Andrews is indebted to the common schools of his
native state for his early education and he gained his due quota of youthful
experience in connection with the work of the home farm. He continued his
studies in a well ordered academy at Fairfield, Ohio, and in the
Presbyterian Institute at Hayesville, that state, after which he entered
with characteristic vigor and earnestness upon the work of preparing himself
for the profession of his choice. He was matriculated in the law department
of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which he
completed the prescribed curriculum and was graduated as a member of the
class of 1865. After thus receiving his well earned degree of Bachelor of
Laws Judge Andrews came to Illinois and sought for an eligible field of
endeavor. He remained for a brief interval at Jonesboro and in May, 1865, he
established his permanent home at Murphysboro. the judicial center of
Jackson county, where he has continued to reside during the long intervening
period and where he has been most successful in the general practice of his
profession, to which he still continues to give close attention. He has been
identified with much important litigation in the courts of this section of
the state and is now worthy of designation as the dean of his profession in
Jackson county, where he commands the highest vantage ground in the
confidence and esteem of his confreres and also the general public.
In addition to the work of his profession Judge Andrews has given most loyal
and effective service in various offices of public order. He was master in
chancery for Jackson county for eleven years and served on the bench of the
county court for five years. For two years he held the office of postmaster
of Murphysboro and he served one term as mayor of the city, as well as one
term as city attorney, preferments which well indicate the high regard in
which he is held in his home community, in the furtherance of whose civic
and material progress and prosperity he has ever shown the deepest interest.
For four years Judge Andrews was connected with the government department of
the interior in the capacity of inspector of surveyor generals' and land
offices, and his service in this office covered the entire United States.
His career has been one of signal activity and usefulness and has been
crowned with well earned honors. He is president of the Jackson County Bar
Association, is a staunch and effective advocate and supporter of the cause
of the Democratic party, is affiliated with local organizations of the
Masonic fraternity and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he
has long been a zealous member of the Presbyterian church, of which his
cherished and devoted wife likewise was a most earnest adherent for many
years prior to her demise.
On the 19th of December, 1867, was
solemnized the marriage of Judge Andrews to Miss Jennie Slocum, of Norwich,
New York, in which state she was born and reared, and this loved and
gracious companion and helpmeet remained by his side for nearly forty years,
she having been summoned to the life eternal on the 25th of January, 1905,
and her name and memory being revered by all who came within the sphere of
her gentle and kindly influence. Mrs. Andrews is survived by two children:
Myra M., who is the wife of Harry 0. Ozburn, cashier of the Citizens' State
& Savings Bank of Murphysboro; and Eugene S., who is agent for the American
Company at Murphysboro. He married Miss Ethel McClay, of Carbondale, this
state.
Living in a community in which his circle of friends is
coincident with that of his acquaintances and enjoying the well earned
rewards of many years of earnest endeavor, Judge Andrews may well felicitate
himself upon the smiling plenty and fair, prosperous days which mark the
course of his life during the period in which he looks back upon a record of
conscientious application and faithful service as one of the world's
productive workers, and no citizen is more worthy of special and cordial
recognition in this history of Southern Illinois.
Extracted 11 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, by George W. Smith, volume 3, pages 1106-1108.