Dewey Dwight Andrews, was a cavalryman during the Civil War. He was mustered in the 17th Illinois Cavalry Company H on the 22nd of January 1864, at St. Charles, Illinois. On the 15th of December 1865, he was mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

He spent his growing years first in DuPage County, IL, having migrated to Illinois in October 1846, with his father and mother, Franklin Owen Andrews and Jerusha Rebecca Huggins of Sheffleld, MA. After the death of his mother, Elizabeth Hotchkiss became Franklin's second wife. His parents relocated to Saline, Miller County, MO with some of his siblings, half brothers, and half sisters. In 1860 Missouri, 17-year-old Dewey was the eldest child of ten children.

Dewey, a farmer, later relocated to the Winnebago Indian Agency, (now called the town of St. Clair), Blue Earth County, MO. In 1867, he first married Mary White, a daughter of fur trader Asa Lloydia White and Eneck-a-mon-a-kaw (aka Mary), from the Winnebago clan of Chief Yellow Thunder of Wisconsin. His marriage to Mary White enjoyed the birth of 7 children: Asa Franklin, Dewey Robert, Eliza Iona, Henry C., Ida Estella, Mabel May, and Mary Jerusha "Mame" Andrews.

When Mary (White) Andrews was taken too soon at the age of 36 years in 1884, Dewey traveled to Illinois and Missouri to visit his family. He met Miss Mary Francis "Fannie" Cowsert and they married in 1863 at Tinney's Grove, Ray, MO. Fannie accompanied Dewey to Blue Earth County, MN and together they took up housekeeping and shared responsibilities of his children. The couple later relocated to Appleton City, St. Clair County, MO, where their children attended public school and a girl's academy. To this couple were born two children: Charles O. and Edith A. Andrews, probably born in Knox County, IL.

Although still living in Appleton City, MO in 1900, the exact year of Dewey Andrews's final relocation to Knoxville, Knox, IL is unknown. Fannie raised his children as her own and her boy and girl. The family may have moved to Illinois when his children were teenagers. The couple led an exceptional life and Dewey died in 1922 at Knoxville, IL at the age of 78 years. Fannie followed in 1928 at the age of 65 years and the couple are buried at the beautiful Knoxville Cemetery.