1833-34
HISTORY
Major Andre Andrews
, Major being his given name taken from the British soldier
Major John Andre, who, with Benedict Arnold, was hanged
for treason during the American Revolution, was the second
mayor of Buffalo
History says that Major Andrews did not like his name, and
usually signed it M.A. Andrews.
Major Andrews was born in Cornwall, Connecticut on
July 8, 1792. He studied law and became a lawyer, practicing
in Middletown, Connecticut before moving to Buffalo
around 1820. Of all the Mayors who served full terms, his history
is one of the most incomplete. All of his relatives moved
out of the Buffalo
area, many back to New England, leaving little knowledge of
the city's second mayor.
Andrews'
main interest in Buffalo
was most likely real estate. He arrived at a time when the city
was growing. The possibility of becoming rich must have
fueled his reasoning. The first known purchases he made
was for lots 202 and 203, which was bounded by Genesee and
Huron Streets. This was in 1821, and he paid $200 for them.
He also purchased lots 120 to 132, less 122 to 126, paying
$25 an acre. In total, he had 79 acres of land. On this
property he built his home.
Managing his massive land purchases tended to keep
him from his law practice. In 1821 he joined the Erie County
Bar Association
In addition, he found time to dabble in politics before
becoming mayor. In 1824 Andrews was a Presidential elector.
In 1826 he was elected to his first political position as
a Trustee of the Village of Buffalo
He held this position again in 1827. In 1829 he campaigned
unsuccessfully, for a seat on the New York Assembly.
In 1827 Andrews was one of several men appointed
to a committee by the citizens of Buffalo
to determine "if it was feasible to have a military school
established in Buffalo
" The Buffalo
Military
and Scientific Academy may be it.
Andrews vast real estate holdings caused him to write
articles against the Holland Land Company
in the Buffalo
Republican newspaper in 1829. Joseph Ellicott
told company official he was the "Agrarius" writing
these articles.
On May 16, 1830 the first Bank of Buffalo
was formed. Andrews was a founding member, along with Benjamin
Rathbun
, Hiram Pratt
, and William Ketchum
, the latter two serving in the mayor's office also. The
bank was forced to suspend operations on September 6, 1831
and resumed operations in 1836. Apparently the rise and
fall of the bank was due to the Rathbun
brothers. They created a real estate boon and eventual collapse,
which contributed to the bank's closing.
Under Mayor Johnson
, in 1832, Andrews held several offices. He was on the Streets,
Alleys, Canals and Ferries committee, and the Police committee.
He was a member of the Electoral College that same year,
casting his vote for Andrew Jackson for President. As an
alderman, "he resisted efforts of the pro-temperance
members of the council to raise the rates of liquor licenses
for taverns and grocery stores."
LIFE AS A MAYOR
After Ebenezer Johnson
declined a second term as mayor, the Common Council
voted Major Andre Andrews
Buffalo
's second mayor. Aldermen John G. Camp and George B. Webster
were "to wait upon the new mayor-elect and inform him
of his election, who, after a brief period, inducted the
mayor to the council room where he took the oath of office."
Mayor Andrews
was quite pleased, and told the council this: "Gentlemen
- I accept the appointment you have conferred upon me with
emotions of gratitude, but with a great degree of diffidence
- not so much in consequence of the responsible duties devolving
upon me as from a distrust of my qualifications to perform
those duties in the highly satisfactory manner of the gentleman
who has preceded me." He continued on, praising the
work of Ebenezer Johnson
His
first duty of office was to "recommend the propriety
of fixing the salaries of the street commissioner and city
surveyor. "
At
the next meeting of the council the various committees were
announced. The council still was allowed to raise only $8,000
per year. Mayor Andrews
salary was $250 per year.
Some
of the petitions brought before the mayor during his term
included having "the sidewalk on the east side of Main
Street above Chippewa Street reformed." This was "in
the country" at that time. Also petitioned was "to
raise the level of Main Street at Crow Street" - now
Exchange Street. Josiah Trowbridge
, a later mayor, "wished the ordinance prohibiting
swine from running at large be enforced."
Judges were appointed for the Erie County court from
Alden and Black Rock
and three school commissioners were appointed.
Mayor Andrews
was "impelled to improve Buffalo
as fast as was possible."
PERSONAL LIFE
Major Andre Andrews
"will not be particularly remembered as a lawyer,"
his real estate holdings occupying much of his time. The
mansion in which he lived in 1833 "would give one very
little idea of its beauty. The material was wood, from the
virginal forests, the bark being left on the joist and underneath
the flooring...It was painted white with green blinds and
it sat in the midst of an old-fashioned flower garden, New
England style, fenced in with white pickets."
While practicing law in Middletown, Conn. Andrews
married Sarah Mehitabel Hosmer, granddaughter of General
Samuel Holden Parsons, one of George Washington
's generals. Together they had eight children, and eight
grandchildren.
In 1834 the cholera returned, though not as deadly
as the first wave in 1832. In August, their daughter Harriet
died from the disease. On August 16, Mrs. Andrews died from
the disease. And on August 18, 1834, "after a
short but severe illness, the Hon. M. A. Andrews,
former mayor of this city" died from the cholera. "Appropriate
resolutions were passed by the Common Council
and also by members of the bar." Andrews is buried in Forest
Lawn Cemetery
