Andrew Family, Flatrock Township

ANDREW: Henry R. and _____ Weaver Andrew came to Henry County from Butler County, Ohio, in June, 1850. They had planned for some time to come to this section of Ohio, but travel by covered wagon was slow and difficult. Very few roads had been improved. At that time, the Old South Ridge Road was the only certain trail in this direction. They followed it into Defiance County in their covered wagon, forded the stream below the dam at Independence, and came on down the north side of the river to Florida, Ohio. There they again forded the Maumee River to reach their land which they had purchased on the south side directly across from Florida. There was no bridge then.

Henry Andrew brought his own saw mill with him. First timbers and heavy beams for the house were sawed on his own farm. They built a four-room log house and began to erect barns. It was then as necessary to shelter the livestock as well as the family. The first frame barn built is the one by the highway. In 1855, the frame house that still stands at the south end of the Florida River Bridge was built and the family moved in several years before the Civil War. (James Agler family, great, great grandson of Henry Andrew, lives in this house now.)

Many arrow heads and Indian relics have been found and it is believed since this was a high, choice spot from the river, that it once was the site of an Indian village.

John A. Andrew, son of Henry, was born in Butler County, Ohio, in March of 1850, and was just three months old when the family came here to make their new home. In 1875, John A. Andrew married Eliza E. Champion, and in 1879, Walter A. Andrew was born. They had one other child, Petson Andrew, born in 1884, and died in 1911. She taught school several years near Napoleon. She received her schooling in Florida and went to college in Angola, Indiana. Walter A. Andrew married Jessie Sarah Stout in 1908. She was the only child of John Wesley and Mary Jane (Fleming) Stout. Her parents lived in Florida, and her father owned a threshing outfit.

The Walter Andrews had two children. Mrs. Lester (Marguerite Andrew) Agler who lives on this farm in a house built in 1969, just west of the home-place built in 1855. Mrs. Agler is the mother of James who lives in the original house on the farm, and Thomas who lives in the next house that he built on the homestead in 1967. James W. Agler married Carolyn Lulfs in 1959, and has three children, James Lesley, David William, and Penny Jo. Thomas W. Agler married Nancy Mohley in 1964 and they had a son Troy William. He was divorced and then married Carol Desgranges and they have two children, Thomas William II, and Tricia Wynne. Walter Andrew's other daughter, Mrs. Norman (Lois Jean Andrew) Scofield, lives about 4 miles south of Florida on another farm that was owned by the Andrew family. She has two children, Vicki Lynn and Robbe Charles. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Andrew celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in July of 1958. Jessie Andrew died in 1959 and Walter Andrew died in 1961.

There was no bridge across the Maumee River from Florida until 1875. It was a wooden bridge, and it was destroyed by an ice jam in 1882. The next bridge was built in 1883, made of iron, and stood there until January of 1973, when it was torn down and a new bridge was constructed that was opened to traffic in 1974.

John A. Andrew and his son Walter A. Andrew both lived a full lifetime on this farm and in the early 1900's established and operated "Andrew's Mill." The farmers within a radius of 30 or 40 miles brought their grain to grind into 'chop' or feed for livestock, and buckwheat, corn and wheat to be ground into flour.

Submitted by: Mrs. Lester (Marguerite Andrew) Agler