Person:Andrew Wardwell (1)

Andrew Thompson Wardwell
b.15 Sep 1812 Cayuga County, NY
d.31 Oct 1887 Fulton, Gratiot, MI
  1. Lemuel Chase Wardwell1810 - 1860
  2. Morgan G. Wardwell1810 - 1885
  3. Andrew Thompson Wardwell1812 - 1887
  4. Horace D. Wardwell1829 -
  5. Jerome C. Wardwell1832 -
  • HAndrew Thompson Wardwell1812 - 1887
  • WSarah Reynolds1818 - 1853
m. 17 Aug 1834
  1. Maria Delila Wardwell1835 - 1854
  2. Welcome Wardwell1837 - 1849
  3. Morgan G. Wardwell1839 - 1840
  4. Josephine Runnels Wardwell1841 - 1904
  5. Charles Edgar Wardwell1844 - 1933
  6. Andrew J. Wardwell1846 - 1937
  7. Willard D. Wardwell1849 - 1850
  8. Lucius Wardwell1850 - 1871
m. 12 Jan 1854
  1. David S. Wardwell1855 - 1857
  2. Sarah E. Wardwell1858 - 1902
  3. George Henry Wardwell1860 - 1952
  4. Emma J. Wardwell1864 - 1944
Facts and Events
Name Andrew Thompson Wardwell
Gender Male
Birth[1] 15 Sep 1812 Cayuga County, NY
Marriage 17 Aug 1834 to Sarah Reynolds
Marriage 12 Jan 1854 Calhoun County, MIto Catherine Anne Aldrich
Occupation? Mason in 1850, Farmer in 1860, 1870 & 1880
Death[2] 31 Oct 1887 Fulton, Gratiot, MI
Burial? Old Fulton Center, Gratiot, MI

Moved to Michigan from Seneca Co,NY. The 1850 census shows him living in Fayette with real estate valued at $450. Is in the 1860, 1870, & 1880 census records for Fulton Twp. 1870 census shows real estate valued at $1800 and personal estate value of $580.

"Andrew T. Wardwell bought a farm in Gratiot County, Michigan at the present site of the town of Perrinton on July 14, 1855 from the Saginaw Salt Company and sold it to Edgar D. Moss on February 2 1875. Andrew and his father, David Traw (sic) Wardwell, started a cabin there in 1855. Andrew left David to work on the cabin while he went for the family in Hillsdale County (Mich.). When he came back he found the cabin just as it was when he left and found David sick with typhoid fever at a neighbors. The site of this farm is on the west side of what is now the Main Street of Perrinton. This farm had 80 acres. The second farm was on Smith Road just south of M57 on the west side. They had the south 40 acres of the 80 acres that comes to the corner of M57. The landfill dump is on the old Wardwell land." -Kenton Owen

This article in the Hornellsville (New York) Tribune 04 June 1857 appears to refer to him, as he had 5 living children with him at the time:

"The Destitution in Michigan The following account of the suffering experienced by many in the State of Michigan, is from a statement by S.V.R. Trowbridge, published in the Detroit Advertiser: 'The first township we reached was Fulton; roads terrible....they were poor when they came, and now destitute and suffering. A severe frost had destroyed entirely the crops of last year, and the fire and smoke last Fall had killed many of their oxen and cows. We continued on, and within two miles met a tall backwoodsman in a swamp. I inquired if he could inform me where to procure teams to bring in provisions to distribute to the poor in those woods. He replied, 'I am now on my way to the Supervisor to try and get an order for some relief for my family; my name is Wardwell; I have a wife and five children; I live a mile and a half from here; I have 20 gallon of molasses, no meal, no flour, no meat, not a mouthful in my house to eat--not a pound of meat since October. I have planted three quaters of a bushel of potatoes; have no means; don't know what to do.' I said 'Wardwell, sit down on this log until I write an order.' I wrote to Mr. B. for one bushel of potatoes, thirty pounds of corn meal, and fifteen pounds of pork. 'Well,' he said, 'Mr. Trowbridge, there are families in our settlement still worse off.' I send word to them by Mr. W. and started on."

"Family gossip has it that as he became older, Andrew became "insanely" jealous of his young wife, even to the point of threatening her life. It has been said that George Wardwell feared for his mother's life and did not marry until his father had died and his mother was safe. Kenton Owens writes, 'Maybe you already know this but Granddad told me that Andrew T. Wardwell committed suicide. I guess it caused some differences in the family.' It occurs to me that he is talking of tension between the children of the first marriage and the second marriage of Andrew Wardwell. There also seem to have been a period of tension within the second family. It seems that Sarah Wardwell Bishop's husband was not able to provide very well for his family. George and Emma did what they could from their sister. I believe that the Bishops may have lived with Catherine Wardwell in her late life. Life was not easy for her either. Sarah resented the marriage of George to Annie Doran and snubbed his young wife on their first trip back to Michigan from North Carolina. Feelings between the two branches of the family have long since been smoothed over. The Bishops, the Wrights, and the Wardwells have kept contact until the present time." -jeanne andriot <jandriot@@erols.com>

References
  1. jeanne andriot <jandriot@@erols.com>.
  2. jeanne andriot <jandriot@@erols.com>.