s/o Robert Lial Andrews and Mary Drucilla Horton

Received his M.D. Degree from Methodist Shelby Medical College, which was to serve as the medical department of the projected Methodist Episcopal Church South, and was the predecessor of Vanderbilt University. It closed at start of the Civil War.

When the Civil War broke out, John Summerfield Andrews, a 23-yr. old practicing physician in Memphis, Tennessee, arranged his personal affairs and headed to Manassas. He arrived there a few days before the Battle of Bull Run and joined the same Alabama regiment in which his brothers, Robert and William, had enlisted. During that battle on July 21, 1861, Billie Andrews was among the first of the Alabamians to fall as a grape shot ripped through his body. Billie's brother, John, caught him as he fell and carried his body back to a safer spot at the battlefield's edge. Billie died quickly, and later would be buried in an unmarked grave on the battlefield. His brother, John, went back to the fight. A few hours later, a minie ball wounded Robert Andrews in the hand, and John helped his brother back to a sheltered spot that became a field hospital. When Confederate General Bee visited the hospital, he immediately commissioned John as a surgeon and put him in charge of the wounded men of the 4th Alabama Regiment.

After the battle's conclusion, the Confederate wounded were taken to Charlottesville via Culpeper. At the Charlottesville General Hospital, Dr. John determined that Robert's medical condition was grave. Robert suffered from intestinal bleeding associated with a typhoid fever infection.

Robert's condition grew worse, and it became apparent that unless something miraculous was done quickly, he would soon die. John asked for another surgeon to examine his brother, and Dr. Moon was called in. When John looked up from his seat at his brother's bedside, he was astonished to see a young woman about 24-years old, 5'4" in height with chestnut hair and blue eyes that seemed to look through a person. She wore a simple but expensive dress and displayed a calm and medically competent manner around her patient. John quickly noted that when her face lit up with a smile, sunshine came into the room. There by his wounded brother's bedside, Dr. John Andrews met his future bride, Dr. Oriana Moon.

The two surgeons surrounded Robert Andrew's bed, and after a thorough examination, retired to an adjoining room for consultation. In the absence of anesthetics and with the patient's fever, Dr. Moon advised against surgery, fearing it would hasten the end of this young soldier. John agreed that Dr. Moon's approach was best, that the operation should be deferred. They packed Robert's chest with ice to reduce his fever and provide more favorable conditions for the operation, should it appear feasible. During the night, Robert's condition improved slightly and then worsened. Two days later, Robert died. On their way from Robert's death bed, another staff member remarked to Dr. Orie that his death was an unusually sad case. When she asked 'why', her colleague recalled Billie Andrews' death and burial at Bull Run a few days earlier. Now because of financial reasons, John's brother, Robert, must likewise fill a grave far from his home and family. These thoughts deeply impressed Dr. Orie, and as she possessed ample funds, she decided to tender Dr. John Andrews a loan to finance Robert Andrews' last trip home to Florence, Alabama.

When John Andrews returned to his post at the Charlottesville Hospital later in the summer, he learned that illness had forced Dr. Orie to give up her Ward. She had returned to Viewmont where she was being cared for by her mother and family. At his first opportunity, John hired a horse and rode the ten miles to Viewmont, intending to repay the loan and check on Dr. Orie's health. He tarried several days at Viewmont before returning to Charlottesville where he discovered he had been installed as Physician to the Ward previously run by Dr. Orie Moon. John also installed himself as physician to Dr. Orie, who would be confined to bed for more than a month. Dr. John's visits to Viewmont multiplied and their friendship took on a deeper meaning. John requested leave to get married, and on November 28, 1861, John Andrews and Oriana Moon married at Viewmont in Albemarle County.

In November 1861, John also sought and was granted leave to seek reassignment in Richmond. Daily, these hospitals received wounded soldiers from Charlottesville and other areas of Virginia. Every medical person was needed. However, military records do not show John resurfacing in Richmond until late January 1862. On 1 February 1862, he appeared before a medical review board in Richmond where he was declared unsatisfactory as a surgeon. John resigned his commission the same day.

It appears that John and Orie continued living at Viewmont, where Orie turned her medical attention to her family. The Andrews' first child, Henry Horton Andrews, was born on 30 October 1862.

In May 1863, Henry Horton Andrews died from croup, and on 1 October 1863, Orie's second son, James Barclay Andrews, was born. With their family growing, the Andrews moved from Viewmont to the Bel Air estate, located along the Hardware River, approximately three miles from Viewmont and a short distance from Mt. Ayr, the home of John and Mary Moon who were Orie's uncle and aunt. On 9 February 1865, Orie gave birth to a third son, William Luther Andrews, who graduated from the University of Virginia and became a Virginia state senator.

Later they moved back to Viewmont and two more sons were born to the Andrews: Isaac Moon Andrews (1874) and Owen Merriweather Andrews (1875). Time passed quickly and joyfully at Viewmont.

Less than a month later, General Sheridan's Union soldiers marched through the area enroute to Scottsville in early March 1865.

Sheridan's goal was to destroy the canal and any foodstuffs and material that would aid and abet the Confederacy in the closing days of the Civil War. Orie and John moved their two sons back to Viewmont as Union soldiers approached Viewmont and looted the country. Orie's sister, Lottie, gathered and buried the family silverware and jewelry until the troops passed by. So excited was Lottie that she was unable later to point out where she had buried the Moons' valuables. Uncle Jacob, a trusted Viewmont servant, loaded a wagon with all of the bacon, flour, and food the family could spare from immediate use and drove it into a dense forest in Fluvanna County, nearly 20 miles away. After Sheridan's men had marched through the area, Uncle Jacob returned to Viewmont with the precious food intact.

The Andrews stayed put at Viewmont as Lee surrendered at Appomatttox on 09 April 1865. By the War's end, the Scottsville area of Albemarle was economically devastated by Sherman's four-day raid in the region, and a physician with a growing family like the Andrews probably could not depend on his patients' full payment for his medical services. In 1869, John Andrews' family in Alabama assured him that there was a physician's position for him in Florence, Alabama, and advised John to move south with his family. Orie and her youngest son caught a train in Charlottesville for Florence while John and their eldest son drove a wag of their possessions to Florence.

John soon realized that the Florence area could not pay much more than gratitude for his medical services. In early 1870, he purchased a small tract of woodland in Hardin County, Tennessee, for a few gold dollars and built a rough board dwelling of two rooms for his family. Orie and their two sons moved into this humble house in the Tennessee wilds later that year. Although accustomed to far more comfort, Orie accepted her new situation with quiet dignity, a friendly disposition, and a desire to help her neighbors.

According to William Luther Andrews, his family lived near a small village of 300 Negroes, whose long days in the cotton and sugar cane fields left them little time but much interest in learning about Jesus. The missionary spirit was aroused in Dr. Orie's heart. Orie chose the beautiful oak grove in front of her house as an open-air church and decided to tell the story of John 3:16 to these villagers on the following Sunday. She readied the grove for her congregation by having wood slabs cut as seats. When the grove was ready for her ministry to begin, Orie sent word to the village that the 'Doctor's Wife' would tell the story of Jesus on Sunday.

A large number of villagers attended her Sunday service and over the next few Sundays, they learned to sing and pray under Orie's tutelage. She also urged them to a better life - to be all that they can be. Orie continued her Sunday services all summer, which according to her son, William Luther, gave rise to another heroic episode in his mother's life. Unfortunately, as Orie was leading her flock to God, a local group of Ku Klux Klan just across the river took exception to this 'white from the north' whom they believed was inciting the black people to rise against them. One summer's evening, the KKK decided to teach this lady doctor a lesson via a whipping. They rode to the river and hailed the ferry to come pick them up. When the ferry owner learned where the men were headed and for what purpose, he drew his teenage son aside and told him to quietly ride hard to Dr. Orie's house to warn her. As his son rode off, the ferryman readied his ferry slowly to cross the river.

As it happened, John Andrews had been called away from home to attend to a mother giving birth that evening. His wife and two young sons were left at home without friends or protection. The ferry owner's son arrived at Orie's doorstep and gave her his father's message, "Dad says for you to run to the woods and hide from the KKK - he will try to hold them until you get away!" Orie promptly responded without fear, "Tell your dad to put them across the river and tell them my doors are not locked, but I am armed and the first person who enters my house will be carried away." She immediately prepared for the expected attack, but none came.

When Dr. John returned home after daylight and heard the story, he rode at once to the ferry to learn more from his friend, the ferryman. The man told John that he had succeeded in dissuading the KKK from carrying out their intended mission by vouching for John, whom he knew to be a Mason. He added that the Andrews were Virginians, not Northerners, and both had served the Confederacy. Further the ferryman avowed that Dr. Orie's work among the blacks was entirely religious and that the reports the KKK had been given about Orie were erroneous. The ferryman's arguments prevailed and nothing further was heard on the matter.

Thanking the ferryman profusely for helping his family in their time of need, John returned home greatly relieved. However, he felt it best that Orie's ministry with her congregation should be discontinued, not only was it best for their family's well being, but also for that of the black villagers. Some radical white people in the area were kindling ill feeling about their black neighbors. Thus Orie gave up her ministry and turned her concentration back once again to her family and providing medical treatment to her female neighbors as needed.

In 1870, the U.S. Census shows Dr. John and Orie Andrews living in Hardin County, Tennessee, with two living sons, James Barclay and William Luther. Their personal property and real estate holdings totaled $1200. Another son, Edward Moon Andrews, was born on 4 February 1871, but died on December 7th. In 1872, the Andrews moved on to Waterloo, Alabama, where a physician was needed and Orie's ministry welcomed. Orie also gave birth to two more sons, Samuel Bryant (1872) and Isaac Moon (1874). And it was in Waterloo, while visiting her sister, Orie, that Lottie Moon decided to go to Tenchow, China, as a missionary for the Southern Baptist Church.

In their three years at Waterloo, the Andrews family moved three times. Their patients lived in poverty and could not pay their physician for services rendered. Possessing a chronic heart ailment, Orie's health suffered under the strain and was confined to bed. John despaired for her life. Orie's siblings urged the family to return to Viewmont where the Moons' happy childhood days had been spent. This suggestion was very well-received by John and Orie, who hoped to restore Orie's health by making the trip in stages in a covered wagon. John disposed of all of their furniture and shipped their books, clothing, and a few small trunks of keepsakes via railroad to Virginia. He also purchased four mules and a new wagon with canvas stretched over the bows and a bed with springs in the wagon's rear. With a small supply of food for travel, the Andrews began the 6-week trip back to Virginia in 1874.

The family settled down at Viewmont with Orie tutoring her sons in the library filled with the books her father had purchased for her many years before. Five months of the year, the boys hiked 5 miles to Church Hill, the home of their Uncle Isaac Moon who taught a public school there. Whether at Church Hill or at Viewmont, the Andrews children attended their lessons to learn rather than to be amused. When not working on their lessons, the boys roamed the woods, set traps for hares and possums, and helped with corn planting in the nearby fields. Many friends and associates of John and Orie came to visit, and their Moon family kin were always welcome. Two more sons were born to the Andrews: Isaac Moon Andrews (1874) and Owen Merriweather Andrews (1875). Time passed quickly and joyfully at Viewmont.

In 1879, the heirs of Anna Marie Barclay Moon, Orie's mother, decided to dispose of her estate and divide their mother's property or its proceeds among them. Thus the Andrews found they must move on again, this time their new home was on Henry St. George Harris' farm in Buckingham County, Virginia. In 1880, another Andrews' son, Frank Moon, was born to John and Orie. Perhaps due to the rigors of child birth, Orie's health again worsened. Within the year, the Andrews moved to Norwood, Nelson Co., Virginia, where they rented a farm belonging to a Mr. Brown's estate. Dr. John found an active medical practice in Norwood and also planted corn in his fields along the James River low grounds. During the Spring of 1881, however, torrential rains fell and caused the James River to sweep away all of the Andrews' crops. The Andrews once again 'moved on', returning this time to Scottsville.

In 1882, John and Orie rented Old Hall, the Beal family home at the corner of Byrd and Harrison Streets. There the two doctors opened the First Sanatorium of Southside Albemarle and began active practice with children and women as their patients. They had more clients than they could accommodate, and so greatly did their work tax Dr. Orie's strength that she was forced to quit the practice in December 1883. John soon realized that his beloved Orie was dying.

In the early morning of December 24, 1883, Dr. Oriana Moon Andrews died of pneumonia, and, at her request, she was buried on December 26th in the Scottsville Presbyterian Cemetery (now Scottsville Cemetery). This exceptional woman, who held a medical diploma from an accredited college of medicine and traveled abroad to the Holy Land, and Egypt, was laid to her final rest having positively affected and been cherished by many people during her brief life on this earth. Oriana Moon Andrews was truly a woman ahead of her time!
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Anyway, John Summerfield Andrews was my great grandfather. I don't have all the details down on paper yet ... trying to get them from my father (84 years old). John was first married to Oriana Moon .... they had somewhere between 8 and 12 children before she passed away. Then John married my great grandmother, Emma Jane Spangler. Together they had another 8 (?) children. I'm working on the list of these children. John and Emma's son Charles Walker was my grandfather. He was married to Bessie Edrena Wallen. They had 3 children, Wallen, Dale, and Martha. Dale is my father. He married Mary Louise Terhaar and had four children, John Thomas, Mary Claire, David Charles (me) and Fred Nicholas. Mary Claire married Axel Bachmann and had Karlan Amanda and Erik Nicholas. Fred Nicholas married Judith Coffman and had Haley Marie and Dana Louise. I also have information on Wallen and Martha's families, but not on me at the moment.

I have midterms at both work (teacher) and the university (student) this week and next, so I am pretty busy. But I will get you more detailed information in ten days or so, okay? I'm interested in finding out more about this family too.

My grandpa Charles Walker lived in California most of his adult life. He divorced my grandma Bessie and remarried Jeanette Unknown. They bought a farm in Ashland, Oregon, where they lived the last 30 years or so of their life. My dad was born in Colton, California. He and my mom lived in San Luis Obispo California for about 50 years. That's where we were all born.

Now .... who are you and where do you live? Ha!

Hope to hear back from you soon,
"Cousin" David
David C. Andrews