Dates

• Existence: 1798 - 1873

Biography

Garnett Andrews was the father of journalist and noted botanist Eliza Frances Andrews. He was born on 1798 Oct 30 in Wilkes County, Georgia. His parents were American Revolutionary War veteran John Andrews and his wife Ann Goode. He was one of sixteen children born to John and Ann.

Andrews studied law, and in 1822 he passed the Georgia bar. In 1828, he married Annulet Ball. He then bought Haywood, a small plantation near his hometown of Washington, Georgia. There, he and his wife had eight children, including Eliza.

In 1834, the governor of Georgia, Wilson Lumpkin, appointed Garnett Andrews judge of the Northern Circut of the Superior Court of Georgia. Also during this time, Andrews purchased an interest in Ross's Landing, which later became the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Andrews is considered on of Chattanooga's founders.

In the 1850s, Andrews became involved in state and national politics. He joined the American Party, better known as the "Know-Nothing" Party. He ran as the Know-Nothing candidate for Georgia governor in 1855. He lost the gubernatorial election, but successfully for a seat in the Georgia House of Representatives in 1859.

While a firm believer in slavery and Georgia's constitutional rights to continue practicing slavery, Andrews was adamantly against Georgia's secession from from the Union during the American Civil War. He predicted that secession and war would destroy the Antebellum way of life and bring financial disaster for major slaveholders. True to his guess, after the war, the Andrews were one such slaveholding family facing financial destitution.

Andrews returned to the Georgia circuit as a judge from 1868 until his death five years later. In 1870 he also published a popular book, Reminiscences of an Old Georgia Lawyer. Andrews died on 1873 Aug 14 in Washington, Georgia and he is buried in the family plot in Washington's Resthaven Cemetery.

Citation:

Found in 1 Collection or Record: