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Submitted by Sharon R. Becker Source: BURTON, William R. and LEWIS, David J. HON. WILLIAM E. ANDREWS Hon. William E. ANDREWS, who has filled various positions of public trust in connection with Nebraska and with the federal government, now makes his home in Hastings [NE]. He was born December 17, 1854, near Oskaloosa, Mahaska county, Iowa, a son of George R. and Sarah ANDREWS, the former a farmer by occupation. He supplemented his public school training by study in Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa, and in Parsons College at Fairfield, Iowa, from which institution he was graduated June 10, 1883, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, while three years later Parson College conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree. he worked as a farm hand for several years, however, before entering college and at different periods engaged in teaching in public schools, also in the Garden Grove [Decatur County, Iowa] Normal School and in different business colleges. In January, 1880, he was chosen superintendent of the schools of Ringgold county, Iowa. While in his senior year at Parsons College, in January, 1885, he was elected a member of the faculty of Hastings College and so continued for eight years or until 1893. He then became private secretary to Hon. Lorenzo CROUTISE, governor of Nebraska, and after two years spent in that position was elected to congress from the fifth Nebraska district, serving from March 4, 1895, until Mary 4, 1897. On the 9th of June of the latter year he became auditor for the United States treasury department. His varied service enabled him to learn the general conditions and needs of the state and federal governments from the executive and legislative points of view. While he was auditor in the treasury department, the volume of business that passed over his desk exceeded one hundred billion dollars and involved a careful study of the Wilson, Dingley, Payne and Underwood tariffs. The excellence of his record is indicted in the fact that not one dollar of that vast amount was ever charged back to the discredit of the office. On the 1st of September, 1885, at Fairfield, Iowa, Mr. ANDREWS was married to Miss Mira McCOY, a daughter of Laben L. and Alice S. McCOY. Mrs. ANDREWS is a musician and held the chair of voice culture in Hastings College for several years. She was a member of the board of lady managers of the Federation of Women's Clubs of the District of Columbia and is now a member of the board of directors of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, which includes not only clubs in the United States but also in Canada and other countries, the organization being international. Mr. ANDREWS has always been a stalwart republican and adheres to the teachings of WASHINGTON, HAMILTON, LINCOLN, and McKINLEY. He belongs to various fraternal organizations and has passed up through both rites of Masonry, taking the various degrees save the thirty-third of the Scottish Rite. He is also an Odd Fellow, Knight of Phythias, United Workman and Modern Woodman of America. He holds membership in the Presbyterian church, in the work of which he is actively interested. His influence has been a potent factor in advancing the welfare and progress of the state along educational, political and moral lines. He has never been content to choose the second best, nor has he ever deviated from the high ideals which are factors in bringing about a more advanced civilization.
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