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Note: Pages 860, 861, 863, 864 The following article was published in the History of Upson County, Georgia, pages 863-864: The life of William C. Andrews, adventurer and soldier, is one of color, action and variety. Born Feb. 14, 1824, the son of William G. and Elizabeth (Smith) Andrews, pioneers of Upson, he was largely self educated, but learned theprofession of Civil Engineering. He was a farmer at the time of his marriage to Sarah Hightower, but when his relatives and friends, fired by the California gold fever which swept the country in 1849, undertook an expedition to theGolden West, he became a member of the party. Ross Powell, A. J. (Jack) Blalock, Charnel Hightower, Mr. West (father of A. J. West), Jeff Willis, James Cowles and others, composed the party. They went first to Savannah, then to New Yorkwhere James Cowles abandoned the expedition and returned to his family. From New York they sailed to the Isthmus of Panama, where forty miles had to be traversed over the rugged country which is now the Panama Canal route, and utilizing the Chagres River, which is today the principal source of water supplyfor the canal, they reached the Pacific, where a sail boat carried them to San Francisco; the gold regions lay far back from the coast, transportation was very difficult, food scarce, and extremely high, flour being $2.00 per pound ingold. Temperate law-abiding citizens, they were not at home in the primitive, rough, lawless atmosphere which prevailed in California at that time. They were homesick, and they remained only long enough to reimburse themselves for the moneyexpended, then turned homeward, going overland through Mexico. Here Mr. West met death at the hands of the Mexicans, he being the only member of the party who did not return. The expedition required approximately two years. Only a few years later came the War Between the States, and William Capers Andrews enlisted with the Holloway Grays in what was later known as Company C 37th Ga. Regiment. He was wounded at Dalton, GA., in an encounter with the enemy,was captured in Alabama, and together with John Williams, a fellow countryman, was carried to Camp Douglas, Chicago, where he eventually died of smallpox towards the close of the year 1864. He was buried in what was afterwards JacksonPark, and the site of the World's Fair in 1893, on the shores of Lake Michigan.
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Note: Roll: M653_139 Georgia Militia District 470 Written Page No. 93 Dwelling No. 733 Family No. 660 Lines 20 through 26 W. C. Andrews, 34, farmer, born in Georgia S. A. Andrews, 28, born in Georgia C. E. Andrews, 12, born in Georgia M. M. Andrews, 10, born in Georgia C. D. Andrews, 7, born in Georgia W. A. Andrews, 3, born in Georgia J. Andrews, 1, born in Georgia
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