Sacramento County
Biographies
WILLIAM JAMES ANDREW
The congenial environment and profitable
labors that have characterized the identification of Mr. Andrew with Sacramento
county form a striking contrast to the scenes and
privations incident to his early experiences in life. The place where he
was born December 22, 1864, was a farm on Prince Edward Island, lying near the
mouth of the St. Lawrence River and in the gulf of the same name, not far from
the storm-tossed shores of Nova Scotia and equally close to the province of New
Brunswick. The imagination will readily comprehend the isolation and
loneliness of his youth, the lack of educational advantages and the necessity
of arduous labor to secure a subsistence. The
death of his mother when he was a very small child made his loneliness the more
noticeable, for he was taken into the home of relatives and deprived of the
companionship of those whom he had held most dear.
When manhood brought the possibilities of
a change into the life of Mr. Andrew he sought the opportunities of the vast
west and during 1889 arrived in California, where he became one of the very
first settlers in the Orangevale colony. With a brother as a partner he
bought twenty acres of unimproved land. Working together, they brought ten
acres under cultivation to varied fruits and planted the other ten in
oranges. Ultimately William J. acquired the brother's interest, since
which time he has built a substantial packing house and four buildings, thus
transforming the once unimproved tract into a beautiful homestead. Few
men of the colony are more familiar with citrus culture than he, and it has
been one of his specialties to bud and propagate orange trees. In
addition to managing and packing his own oranges, he has taken charge of ranches
owned by others, packing and shipping their oranges. Without question he
is one of the men to whose energy the development of Orangevale is due, and
very justly he has an enviable reputation in the district.
In his marriage Mr. Andrew became
connected with an honored pioneer family of Sacramento county.
At Orangevale, December 22, 1893, he was united with Miss Maude Camfield, who was born near Sacramento and reared and
educated in this county. She is the daughter of E. D. and Mary (Frame) Camfield, natives of New York and Indiana
respectively. Both crossed the plains with ox teams. The
father died in 1890 and the mother resides in Orangevale. One child,
Vera, blesses the union of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew. The family
are active members of the Orangevale Methodist Episcopal church and
contribute not only to its maintenance, but also to the support of many other
movements for the upbuilding of the locality and the
advancement of the community religiously, morally and educationally. In
political views Mr. Andrew is a Republican of the progressive type and a
participant in public affairs, but at no time a candidate for office. One
of the organizations in which for years he has been interested is the Grange,
but there are also many other enterprises and organizations of value to the
country in which he bears a decided interest. A man of sterling worth and
unquestioned integrity, he maintains the confidence of the community has many
warm friends in the district,
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 654-657. Historic
Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.