Tag: RI 14th Heavy Artillery

Calvin Dexter and Lovina (Jones) Andrews – the Connection to Native American Heritage

Dreamcatcher
Dream Catcher Image from exemplore.com

Passing on information about the family through oral history is sometimes the only way we have clues to the past. Some of that history proves to be true, other pieces cannot be proven as true or false, and some parts are just plain wrong. Oral history indicated that part of the family was Native American. Charlie Andrews had coppery skin color and high cheek bones, which does not mean you have Native American heritage, but gives you pause. Jimmy DeBoise, son of James, and who spent a lot of time with Charlie and his wife, told us that the family had Native American heritage – he thought Mohawk but wasn’t sure. Richard and I attended our first Pow Wow in Sioux City, South Dakota. One of the dancers looked like one of Richard’s brothers, carried himself the same way, and had the same mannerisms. Again, that doesn’t prove anything, but to me it’s the past calling and waiting to be discovered. Researching the children of Calvin and Lovina verified the Native American heritage when at least one child was identified as Indian on several censuses, and indicated that her father was of Mixed Race. Census takers did not always ask what a person’s race was. Indians were often marked as mulatto or Negro/black. Additionally, Indians were being pushed west so you didn’t always broadcast your heritage. Native American heritage was also verified by DNA results.

Shortly after Calvin and Lovina were born, Andrew Jackson was elected the 7th President of the United States. In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act which forcibly removed most Indians in the Southeastern United States to territory West of the Mississippi. The “Trail of Tears”, a phrase coined to describe the forced removal of much of the Cherokee Nation in 1838 in which large numbers of Cherokees died of starvation and disease, is often used to refer to these actions. These removals did not just occur in the Southeastern states. I have found some of my non-Indian family members who had married Native Americans and were living in Indiana also forced to relocate to “Indian Territory” along with their families during this period.

Calvin Dexter Andrews was born March 5, 1825 in Ludlow, Massachusetts, the son of Continue reading “Calvin Dexter and Lovina (Jones) Andrews – the Connection to Native American Heritage” →

George W and Jeanette (Freeman) Andrews of Vernon and Manchester, Connecticut

RI 14th Heavy Artillery Battle Flag
RI 14th Heavy Artillery (Colored). Used by regiment during Civil War. Textile collection RI Historical Society rihs.org

 

When George Washington Andrews, Ruth Andrew’s great grandfather, was born in 1853, the United States was in turmoil over slavery. Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States. Harriet Beecher Stowe had released her bestselling book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” the year before. When George was four, the Supreme Court issued the Dred Scott decision, stating that slaves are not free when transported from a slave territory to a free territory. They also ruled that Congress could not ban slavery in a U.S. Territory, and that blacks could not be awarded citizenship.

Abolitionists, opposed to slavery, became more vocal. The conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters became more violent. John Brown, educated in Massachusetts and Connecticut, became strongly committed to the abolitionist movement while living in Springfield, Massachusetts. He became the leader of violent actions against slaveholders and slave supporters, most known for the Pottawatomie Massacre in Kansas of pro-slavery supporters and the raid on Harper’s Ferry in Virginia while trying to initiate an armed slave revolt. The turmoil of the 1850s led to the Civil War. It was much better to be a black or Indian family living in the North than the South, but life was hard.

In New England, the Industrial Revolution resulted in more factories opening along rivers. The upper Connecticut River Valley experienced the growth of industry, as well as French-Canadian and other immigrants moving to the area to work in the new industries.

George Washington Andrews was born March 25, 1853 in Ludlow, Hampden County, Massachusetts. He was the son of Calvin Dexter and Lovina (Jones) Andrews, and the sixth of 10 children. About the time of his birth, his father left the family and moved to Ellington, Connecticut. Not far from Ludlow, Dexter saw this as an opportunity to ensure his family had a better life. His family received state assistance and was listed on the Ludlow pauper rolls as early as November 1, 1853.[1] Lovina’s family was still living in Ludlow, and provided support for her and her children while her husband was getting established in Connecticut. Her family was from Connecticut, and there was movement back and forth between Massachusetts and Connecticut among family members. Continue reading “George W and Jeanette (Freeman) Andrews of Vernon and Manchester, Connecticut” →