The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

ANDREWS, Edward (1798-1865) and Sarah L. (1803-1899)

Parents of Seventh-day Adventist pioneer John Nevins Andrews. A laborer from Paris, Maine, Edward and his wife, Sarah, participated in the Millerite Advent expectation and disappointment of 1844 and became among the earliest Adventist Sabbathkeepers in Maine in 1845. There is some evidence that Edward Andrews was involved in “no work” fanaticism for about two years in the mid-1840s. Ellen and James White boarded in his home for some months from late 1850 to summer 1851. In 1855 the Andrews family moved, with other Adventists, to Waukon, Iowa, where Andrews farmed until his death in 1865. At the age of 80 Sarah Andrews visited her son, J. N. Andrews, in Switzerland, a few months before he died of tuberculosis. 1EGWLM 781.1

Edward Andrews’ relationship to Ellen and James White was strained for many years. As late as 1861 he accused James of cheating him out of $8 in 1850. Together with other members of his family, Andrews cultivated skepticism and opposition to the visions and testimonies of Ellen White. Two years before his death he showed a change of heart and wrote to the Whites “to confess all the wrongs my cruel unbelief has ever heaped on you.” 1EGWLM 781.2

See: Obituary: “Edward Andrews,” Review, May 2, 1865, p. 175; obituary: “Sarah L. Andrews,” Review, July 18, 1899, p. 468; 1850 U.S. Federal Census, “Edward Andrews,” Maine, Oxford County, Paris, p. 190; Marion C. S. Crawford (née Stowell) in “General Conference Proceedings, Sixth Meeting, Sunday, April 7,” General Conference Bulletin, Apr. 8, 1901, p. 116; Ron Graybill, “The Family Man,” in Harry Leonard, ed., J. N. Andrews: The Man and the Mission, pp. 15-19, 26-28; Edward White to “Brother and Sister White,” Jan. 25, 1863. 1EGWLM 781.3