William H. Andrews

biography

William H. Andrews was born in Youngsville, Warren county, Pennsylvania, January 14th, 1840, being the son of Dr. J. Andrews, who settled in Pennsylvania at a very early age. William left his home at fourteen years of age and went to Jamestown, New York, where he obtained a clerkship in the dry goods store of Will Stevens, where he remained until 1861. He then returned to Pennsylvania and engaged on his own account in the same line of business and soon after started a branch store at Akron, Ohio. In 1865 he sold his interest in Ohio and concentrated them in the oil regions of Pennsylvania. In 1870, he opened a wholesale and retail house at Titusville, Crawford county, and about the same time conducted a large establishment in Meadville, in the same county. He remained in Titusville until 1878, when he disposed of his interests and removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and purchased the business and stock of Messrs. Johnson & Co., Nos. 76 and 78, West Fourth street. This he made one of the leading dry goods establishments west of the Alleghenies, employing one hundred and fifty hands. He also conducted a branch house at Nos. 506 508 and 510 Vine street, where seventy-five hands were employed. In the winter of 1879, he disposed of his Cincinnati business and removed to Meadville, where in the spring he opened a large dry goods and carpet store, with a branch establishment at Titusville, which is at present conducted successfully. Mr. Andrews was thrown early upon his own resources and it is solely by his efforts directed by a thorough practical business training that he has achieved success. He was married October 2, 1862 to Rose daughter of James H. Eddy, Esq., of Warren, Pennsylvania.