Thomas William and Emily Mary (Adams) Andrews
With this post, I continue relating the history of the Alexander and Mary Jane (Porter) Adams family, who moved from LaSalle County, Illinois to Maple Hill, Kansas in 1879. Alexander and Mary Jane Adams were the parents of four children: Franklin Alexander born in 1853, Emily M. born in 1859, Horace Greeley in 1862 and Alice A. Adams in 1866. In previous posts, we have discussed the history of Alexander and Mary Jane (Porter) Adams and their eldest son, Franklin Alexander Adams. This post will be the first about their second child, Emily Mary Adams and her husband Thomas William Andrews.
I want to say, that I enjoy doing the research and writing about these families. I try to be as accurate as family reports and on-line information allows, but mistakes do happen. I hope if you find an error you will notify me and I will certainly make changes.
The Adams family is remarkable in the history of Maple Hill, Kansas but also remarkable in its involvement in Kansas as well as the nation. I dont remember hearing a great deal about the Thomas and Emily Andrews family as I grew up in Maple Hill, and in fact, I havent been able to learn a great deal about them from others in Maple Hill or local family sources. Interesting, in doing this research, I have learned that Thomas W. Andrews, husband of Emily M. Adams, was the nephew of one of the 10 richest men in America, Sen William Andrews Clark, and as we shall see, Thomas W. Andrews was to have a connection to his wealthy ancestor and would play a role in the development and settling of an 8,000 acre tract of land owed by William Andrews Clark, which became a part of the City of Los Angeles, California.
Im getting way ahead of myself. Lets talk about who Thomas William Andrews and his ancestors were.
Thomas W. Andrews was the great grandson of an Irish immigrant and a Pennsylvania pioneer woman, whose grandparents were also Irish immigrants. Thomas William Andrews great grandfather was William Andrews and his great grandmother was Sarah (Kithcart) Andrews. Below are a couple of paragraphs about them from the Fayette County, Pennsylvania History of Pioneers:
William Andrews, son of Thomas and Nancy Andrews, was born March 3, 1778 in Antrim, Ireland, The family may have lived in or near Portglenome, Antrim County. He immigrated to America about 1795 settling in Bullskin Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He took out his naturalization papers before Judge Ephraim Douglass of Fayette County, Pa. April 13, 1807. William married Sarah Kithcart, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Cunningham Kithcart. They were married September 15, 1812 by Rev. Moore in Mt. Pleasant, Pa. Both were from Presbyterian families. It is likely that previous ancestors of both the Andrews and Kithcart Families fled Scotland to Ireland during the persecution of the Presbyterians in Scotland.
William Andrews came from a family of some means and was well educated in Ireland and was much interested in politics. After becoming a United States citizen, he was elected and served almost four terms or 16 years as a Pennsylvania state senator, from his district, to the state capitol at Harrisburg, Pa. and was a candidate for the next term at his death. He was in route to a political convention at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on horseback, when he was stricken with apoplexy (a stroke) just north of Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. There was quite a delegation accompanying him, riding two abreast. He was riding beside his son Thomas Andrews. His son John, was riding just behind him and saw there was something wrong and quickly rode up beside him. His sons kept him from falling to the ground but he lived only a few hours and never regained consciousness. He died October 4, 1840 and is buried in the Middle Churches Presbyterian Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant, Pa. Also buried in the same cemetery is a son, William Andrews, who died in early childhood.
And so we learn that the Andrews family was well-established and prominent in the affairs of Fayette County, Pennsylvania in the early 1800s. It is interesting to note, that the Adams Family also lived in Fayette County, Pennsylvania at that time. Although I have no evidence that they knew each other, one is certainly able to question if the Andrews and Adams families were acquainted before future generations moved to Kansas.
William and Sarah (Kithcart) Andrews were the parents of ten children, with nine children, living to be adults. In the obituary of one of the younger children, she states that her parents were strict Presbyterians and that all nine of the children were raised and remained in the Presbyterian faith.
Their children are as follows:
Mary Jane Kitchart Andrews 1814-1904
Joseph William Andrews 1815-1879
Thomas Andrews, Sr. 1818-1865
Francis Frank Andrews 1820-1879
William Andrews 1823 -1912
John Kithcart Andrews 1826-1887
Elizabeth Andrews 1827-1876
Anna Andrews 1832-1910
Sarah Andrews 1835-1912
It is always of interest to me, to note how many of these pioneer era children remained near their place of birth and how many moved westward. Of these nine children, two would die in California, two in Illinois, three in Ohio, one in Kansas and of the nine, only the youngest, Sarah, married a local farmer and remained in Fayette County, Pennsylvania her entire life. The others moved West to establish lives in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas.
It will be their third child and second son Thomas Andrews, Sr. (1818-1865) who will become the father of our subject, Thomas William Andrews. Thomas was born on his parents farm in Bullskin Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania on March 6, 1818. He was educated at the Middleton Presbyterian Academy. He was married to Susanna Critchfield, daughter of a local farm family, at Mt. Pleasant, Fayette County, Pennsylvania on March 30, 1843.
When the 1850 US Census was taken, the Thomas and Susanna Andrews family had left Pennsylvania and was living in Ashland County, Ohio. Thomas would remain there until his death on September 19, 1865. He was 47-years-old and died as the result of a farm accident, leaving a large family of ten children, and one unborn child, for a total of eleven children.
His widow, Susanna Andrews would remain on the large Ohio farm she and her late husband owned, raising her large children, until sometime between 1875 and 1880. The 1880 US Census reveals that Suzanna Adrews has sold her Ohio farm and has moved to a large farm near Rossville, Shawnee County, Kansas where she is living with her second son Joseph Andrews aged 40, daughter Martha Andrews age 24, son Thomas William Andrews age 20, daughter Elmira Belle Andrews age 16, son John Andrews age 14, and two hired men.
Records in 1870 indicate that her farm in Ohio had a value of $6,000 for real estate plus $1,000 for improvements (residence and out buildings.) Farm real estate values for that period indicate her farm was likely 600 acres in size. In addition, the personal property (furniture, implements, etc.) was valued at $1,800, a considerable sum for the time. With the proceeds from the sale of that property, she had money to invest in Kansas, and likely bought a farm of like size, 600 acres including improvements. The 1880 Census indicates that her sons Joseph and Thomas were working on the farm in addition to two hired men. This would have certainly been an above average middle-class farm for the time.
I want to stop at this point, and establish the relationship between The Thomas Andrew, Sr. family and that of Sen. William Andrews Clark, son of John William and Mary Jane Kithcart (Andrews) Clark. The reasons will become obvious as the story develops.
Youll remember that Mary Jane Kithcart Clark (1814-1909) was the first-born child of William and Sarah (Kithcart) Andrews. She was the older sister of Thomas Andrews, Sr. (1819-1865.) She and her future husband, John William Clark, were both born in Western Pennsylvania and both were born to farm families of Irish descent.
John William Clark was born November 17, 1797 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. He was born into a large family of Irish descent. He was married to Mary Jane (Kithcart) Andrews on November 1, 1836 at Laurel Hill, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Mary Jane (Andrews) Clark lived and farmed at Upper Turkeyfoot, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. They would eventually raise a family of twelve children.
Since Thomas Andrews, Sr. and Mary Jane Kithcart (Andrews) Clark were brother and sister, all of their more than twenty children were first cousins. Therefore, Thomas William Andrews, son of Thomas Andrews, Sr. was the nephew of Mary Jane Kithcart (Andrews) Clark. John William and Mary Jane (Andrews) Clarks second son was William Andrews Clark. He and Thomas William Andrews would have been first cousins.
Why is establishing this relationship important? William Andrews Clark would become a copper baron in Montana and Nevada, the founder of Las Vegas, Nevada and namesake of Clark County, Nevada, and the owner and developer of vast railroad and real estate developments in California and many other states. This is a fact to remember: William Andrews Clark, in 1910, was said to be one of the ten wealthiest men in America with a fortune of $350 million dollars, equal to that of the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Mellons, Astors, and others. The Andrews and Clark families were large and William Andrews Clark would take several of his brothers, nephews and cousins into his large circle of executives to provide trusted employees to assist in managing his vast wealth. His first cousin, Thomas William Andrews, would be one of those involved as we shall see later.
This family story is fascinating!!! William Andrews Clark died in 1925, leaving a fortune of some $750 million dollars, he was married twice and left seven children. The youngest of those children, was Hugette Marcell Clark, born June 6, 1906 in Paris, France. You may remember her for her eccentricities for while she was one of Americas richest women, she moved out of her New York apartment in 1988 and lived the next 30 years in New York hospitals. She did so because she felt having a small staff of doctors, nurses, a lawyer and accountant, provided her with the security and trust she needed. Hugette Clark died in that hospital room on May 24, 2011 at the age of 104. She was never photographed after 1928. Her mother, Anna Eugenia (LaChapelle) Clark and she lived in the three vast estates in California, Connecticut and New York City, in total secrecy, with little contact from the outside world.
While many of her relatives tried to get her declared incompetent in order to gain control over her fortune, she was never found to be mentally unable to manage her own affairs. She left multi-million dollar estates in California, Connecticut and her New York apartment jointly worth over $200 million as well as a vast collection of art which was valued at another $500 million and that didnt include the cash and investments in the bank valued at another $350 million. After her relatives began to try and get control, she ceased all contact with anyone except her lawyer, doctor, accountant and nurses. Living in a hospital provided the ultimate security that she sought. Though all those more than 30 years, her estates were maintained as if she might return the next day.
When her will was admitted to probate, relatives were granted very little, but her nurse, doctor, attorney and accountant were given gifts totaling more than $35 million and there were reports that she gave them gifts totaling as much or more while she was alive. If you want to learn more, Google Hugette Marcell Clark and you will find pages and pages of material about this relative of our subject Thomas William Andrews.
William Andrews Clark, Sr. had humble beginnings. He moved to Iowa with his family, read law there and became a Frontier lawyer, served briefly in the Union Army and then headed West to seek his fortune. He began by forming a trading company that carried supplies via mule back from Salt Lake City to the mining fields in Montana.
He soon saw opportunity in mining, had the acumen to accumulate large claims without ever taking a shovel in hand himself, and to make a long story short, he became a mining baron in Montana accumulating vast riches in copper, silver and gold. William Andrews Clark, Sr. eventually became the founder and owner of the Anaconda Mining Company. He also became a United States Senator from Montana, although many claimed that he had bribed his way there, which wasnt too uncommon in the early 1900s.
Mineral deposits were being discovered in other areas and purchased vast mineral deposits in Nevada, where his mining ventures were very successful. He needed improved means of getting his ore from Nevada to California ports, and so he built his own railroad from the mines to Los Angeles. Since there was no rail hub or round house in Nevada at the time, he purchased 2,000 acres of land in Southern Nevada and founded Las Vegas, which was nothing more than a mining and railroad town. Clark County, Nevada, whose county seat is Las Vegas, was founded to honor William Andrews Clark. He and his son, William Andrews Clark, Jr., planned and developed the first architecturally designed mining town in America, Clarkdale, Arizona, where they jointly built a huge mansion as the town centerpiece. Both lived in the house, but when copper and silver ore prices fell during the Great Depression, the town ceased to grow and never attained the prominence that had once been envisioned.
Mary Jane (Andrews) Clark, mother of William Andrews Clark, moved to Los Angeles in her later years and was looked after by her daughter Sarah Clark. William Clark provided a beautiful home for his mother and sister, and in 1910, built the largest YWCA in the world to honor her. Still standing but today converted into senior citizen housing, The Mary Jane Andrews Clark YWCA had over 75,000 sq. ft. of space and provided housing for more than 1,000 young women.
William Andrews Clark, Jr. also moved to Los Angeles, still possessing enormous wealth. He was the founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. He was one of the primary promoters of The Hollywood Bowl. But perhaps his crowning achievement was the building of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, which is today one of the 12 official UCLA Libraries. William Andrews Clark spend most of the second half of his life seeking out and purchasing the rarest and finest books for the librarys collections. He died without children in 1934.
Im going to stop here and continue with the story of Thomas William and Emily Mary (Adams) Clark, who would also move to California to become a part of the William Andrews Clark business enterprises.