Daddy at his Santa Fe, Tennessee farm with Post Hole Digger.
Prentiss Andrews
Dallas, Texas
Dear John,
Wow, thanks so much for the information! I love the pictures and I have always wondered what life would be like on a farm. Your dad was truly a man of great honor and character with an endless capacity for love. His quests for knowledge and wanting to share that knowledge are truly inspiring!! It does not get any better than that! A very handsome man as well. I will share these pictures with my family and my mother. I am glad to be able to share this wonderful Andrews family with you.
P.S. I LOVED the cemetery story with the red rose. There are no coincidences in life. It was your daddy.
My wife and I were very moved by your brother's fine memorial to your father. We have lost our beloved parents and had to try to hold back our tears when reading his piece.
Prentiss Andrews
Dallas, Texas
My name is Prentiss Andrews and I am a descendant of Varney Andrews [William L. Andrews' 3x great-grandfather]... I was very pleased to find the photographs of the Varney Andrews farm and home on the Meherrin River, as well as the photographs related to Henrico County. I had previously located the site of the Varney Andrews, Jr. farm near Celina, Tennessee and was able to view it by means of the Google street view. My brother, Michael Andrews, and I located the grave of Varney Andrews Jr, near Bells, Texas, and it looks very similar to your photos of the Varney Andrews cemetery in Virginia. [Varney Jr's wife, Mary Maxey's father, William Maxey, was the brother of General Rice Maxey, whose son was General Samuel Bell Maxey.]

John, Varney Andrews, Jr., was my great-great grandfather. My great grandfather was Edwin Jones Andrews. My grandfather was Charles Carlton Andrews. My dad was Prentiss Wilson Andrews. Varney Andrews, Jr and 28-year old Edwin Jones Andrews moved with their entire families, from near Celina, Tennessee to Grayson County, Texas, in 1858. I'm mentioned on page 87 of James Ray Andrews' The Andrews Family; Descendants of Varney Andrews, Virginia Soldier of the American Revolution. At that writing, I was a student at North Texas State University. After graduation, I got a commission in the U.S.A.F., and served from 1965-1969, in South Carolina and Okinawa (with a brief TDY to Korea during the Pueblo Crisis). While in college, I married my highschool sweetheart, Martha Frances "Francey" Neill, and we're approaching our 48th anniversary in a week. To make a long story short, I retired from the FAA in 2007, with 36 years service. Francey and I live in Denton, Texas, have one daughter (Lisa Michelle), two sons (Daniel and David), four grandchildren, and one great grandchild. My sons had only daughters, so except for one male grandchild of my brother Michael, it appears our particular branch will cease to carry the Andrews family name...
 
No, Bernetta Fowler was not my great grandmother. She was the first wife of Edwin Jones Andrews and passed away in 1862, while he was serving in the First Texas Sharpshooters. Edwin Jones Andrews and Burnetta Fowler had six children: Eugene Rollin, Harvey Wilson, Laura, Samuel Varney, Patrick Henry, and Martha Oglesby Burnetta. In 1868, he married his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Abernathy, my great grandmother. Edwin Jones Andrews and Mary Elizabeth Abernathey had four children: Frank A. Andrews, Charles Carleton Andrews (my grandfather), Mark Edwin Andrews, and James Richard Andrews. I understand that a number of the brothers of Edwin Jones Andrews served in the 9th Texas Infantry Division and fought in the west in almost every engagement from Shiloh until the end of the war. From what I can learn, Edwin Jones Andrews (32 years old and with six children) was enrolled in the First Texas Sharpshooters (Burnet's Battalion), in August, 1862. He was apparently elected as a 1st Lieutenant of Company D and served for the remainder of the War. From what I can glean, the First Texas Sharpshooters were originally organized to join the 9th Texas Infantry, which had already moved into Tennessee and Mississippi. However, the First Texas Sharpshooters were redirected and participated in engagements at Jackson, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama. Sometime in 1863, they made their way back across the Mississippi, and were assigned to General Samuel Bell Maxey's command in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma), until the war ended.

There is a late 19th century publication for Grayson County, Texas, which listed many of the county residents, with a short biography. It listed Edwin Jones Andrews as owner of a farm near Howe, Texas and also as an agent for a lumber company in nearby Sherman, Texas. It states that he was a good Christian, respected by all who knew him. He died in 1900. My dad, who was his grandson, was born in 1910 and recalled seeing one picture of Edwin Jones Andrews. He said that he was wearing a necklace with an Indian symbol similar to what became known as the swastika. Since he enrolled in the First Texas Sharpshooters in August, 1862, which I believe believe was the same month the Confederate draft was introduced in Texas, I surmise that he may not have been as much of a firebrand as his younger brother, Dr. Richard Andrews was active in the secession movement in Grayson County.

I have plenty of pictures of my grandparents, their family, and of course my own parents and family. I don't have any pictures of family members my preceding grandparents. I'm attaching a sketch I started from memory, shortly after my brother and I had crossed barbed wire fences to find the grave of Varney Andrews, Jr., at Greenwood Cemetary, near Bells, Texas. It depicts my brother, Mike Andrews, standing next to the Varney Andrews monument. Also attached, is a document I scanned from an old Grayson county history book I found in the library. I just scanned the relevant portion, which relates to Dr. Richard Andrews' roll in the Texas secession.

Prentiss

William L. Andrews, Jr., shortly after the death of his father. Later in high school at Hume Fogg in Nashville, Dad was was President of the Astronomy Club in which Dinah Shore was also a member.

Son John Early Andrews with William L. Andrews, Jr. at his Santa Fe, Tennessee farm.

MILITARY GRAVESTONE:
The military records for Dad and Mom were in an area of the St. Louis Records Center that suffered the most damage from the 1970s fire. When their son applied for a military gravestone for Dad, a DD-214 was not available and a substitute DD-214 had to be issued which listed his rank as 1st Lieutenant rather than Captain.

When the application for the gravestone was submitted to the Veterans Administration with the substitute DD-214, their records showed that Dad's tombstone had been shipped to the funeral home shortly after Dad's death in 2005 and had been installed in the funeral home's Sunset Cemetery adjacent to their facility. When the funeral home was contacted, Pat at the funeral home got in touch with someone in the Lewisburg VA office who interceded with the national office and a new tombstone was shipped and installed by the Funeral home at the Andrews-Liggett Cemetery.

Unfortunately when the VA struck through the rank of Captain on the gravestone application and inserted 1st Lieutenant instead of Captain due to the document destructions at the records center, they allowed additional supporting documents to be submitted and reviewed, but Dad's son didn't want to delay and jeopardize the process further because of the previous lengthy difficulties with the VA concerning the previous shipment and consequently 1st Lieutenant rather than Captain appears on Dad's gravestone.

Probably Stuttgart, Arkansas in Army during World War II

Stuttgart Arkansas - William L. Andrews is in bottom row, last on right.

William L. Andrews, Jr. in middle with his uncle Orlando Simpson Jr and a boy named Joe.

Thanksgiving day menu, Stuttgart, Arkansas 1943.

William L. Andrews' officer candidate school class, Carlyle Barricks, Pennsylvania [Far right, Second row from top, below second window from right on building above].

Daddy as a freshman at Davidson College. He returned to Vanderbilt University after his first year to finish his undergraduate work and enter law school at Vanderbilt, being drafted during his third year of law school at Vanderbilt before Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese during World War II.

Bill and Daddy on Stokes Lane in Nashville about 1948

William L. Andrews and Betty Jane Early's wedding on November 25, 1944, Stuttgart Army Hospital Chapel. L to R: Betty's sister Joan Early, WL Andrews, his mother, Stella Andrews, Betty, Betty's Mother and father, Jessica and Edward J. Early.

Daddy during college, maybe Davidson, or else Vanderbilt.

1945 probably - Daddy in Nashville at Percy Warner Park, taken by his fiencee Berry Early during their army leave for her to meet his family for the first time. She broke off the engagement after meeting his family. He asked her to continue wearing the engagement ring and ultimately they were married.

Wedding, L to R: Sara Andrews, William L. ANdrews, Betty Early, the priest, Stella Andrews, Jessica Early and Joan Early.

William L. Andrews and Lt. Betty Early, head surgical Nurse at Stuttgart Army Airfield, Arkansas and future wife.

Daddy about 8 after his father's death in December of 1924.

1964 at Tyne Blvd. home in Nashville, L to R: Wife Betty, David, Joan, Bill, William L. Andrews and Miriam. Standing: Susan and John.

William L. Andrews, Jr.

Lewisburg Farm - L to R, WLA, David, wife Betty, Bill and Claudia.

Andrews Grandchildren - Mark, Kathleen, Jerry, Patrick, Beth and John.

Elizabeth Jane Early Andrews in Army

Granddaughter Elizabeth Mary Andrews' nursing graduation portrait, Franciscan University April 2020

Lewisburg Farm with his Children John, Bill [standing], Susan, Bill's wife Claudia and Miriam.

WLA Jr military grave -- Andrews-Liggett cemetery