submitted by Sara Kendrick Barteau
William Andress' ancestors came from England in 1754 and settled in
Maryland, South
Carolina then Alabama. William and his wife, Anne Rhame, left South
Carolina in 1819
and came to Alabama, settling in Butler County in 1836. They were the
parents of nine
children, Joseph, Susannah, Jeremiah, John N., Sarah Ann, William James,
Martha, Mary
Ann and Stephen Francis. Six of the children lived to share in his
estate. William died in
1841 and Anne died in 1870 and both are buried in the Andress Family
Cemetery in
Butler County. Many of their descendants still live in Butler County.
His youngest son, Stephen Francis, purchased the shares of his remaining
brothers and
sisters in 1870 and became a large landowner in Butler County. Stephen
and his wife,
Sarah Jane East, were the parents of eleven children, Francis Marion,
Nancy Caroline,
Elizabeth Victoria, William Joseph, Samuel Ivy, Mary Ann, Sarah Emily,
Stephen Davis,
Amanda Louise, Alabama and John Lee. They were all born in Butler County.
Stephen Francis, my great grandfather, was born on 22 Mar 1824 in Lowndes
County and
died on 25 Apr 1908 in Butler County. He was the Clerk of the Damascus
Baptist
Church for fifty years. He enlisted in the Civil War on February 12,
1863 at Greenville
and was a First Sergeant in Company B, 6th Cavalry, Alabama
Regiment. He was
honorably discharged on May 6, 1865.
John Lee, my grandfather and the youngest son of Stephen and Sarah,
was born on
January 3, 1870 in Pigeon Creek. He attended Salem School and also
night school where
he obtained a Degree in Music for the violin. He married Linnie Elmetta
Lester, born
October 5, 1875 in Butler County. She was the daughter of Eli Lester
and Caroline Jane
Day. Eli Lester was also a pioneer in Butler County, having moved there
from South
Carolina in 1857. Eli owned a Country Store and lived in Daisy Community
until he died
in 1920.
John Lee and Linnie were the parents of twelve children, Maude Lee,
Claude Ethel,
Stephen Eli, Sallie Elmetta, John Lester, Callie Lucille, Mary Alice,
Joe Frank, Eva
Victoria, Emma Ruth, Nell and an unnamed infant daughter. Eleven lived
to adulthood.
John Lee served Alabama and Butler County as a farmer, Justice of the
Peace, Lawyer,
County Commissioner, State Fertilizer Inspector, Mapmaker for the Butler
County
School District, State Soil Surveyor, State Tax Commission License
Inspector,
Superintendent of Convicts for Kilby Prison and Professional Engineer
and Land
Surveyor. He died on April 10, 1947 and Linnie died on February 24,
1964.
All of their children were born in Beat 5, Butler County and attended
Daisy Schoolhouse
as did Linnie, their mother. Only two of the children remained in the
area to raise their
families.
Claude Ethel, second born child, married James Henry Perdue in 1919.
James Henry
Perdue's first ancestors, John Perdue and Elizabeth Hitch, came to
Alabama before
Alabama was a State in early 1819.
Stephen Eli, third born child, married Mayne Fail in 1920, of the Fail
and Herlong
families, other long time Butler County residents. They were the parents
of nine
children, John Elijah, Eloise, Stephen Eli, Jr., Terry Fail, Harold
Newton, Betty Jean,
Mayne Carolyn, Bobby Ray and Lester Donald. Many of these reside in
the Butler
County area today.
John Lester, fifth born child, married Ethyland Judith Bishop in 1924.
The Bishop's
are another pioneer family coming to Butler County in 1850. Her grandfather,
Reverend
Matthew Bishop, was a circuit rider for the Alabama Baptist Association
and helped to
establish some fifteen Baptist Churches in Dallas, Lowndes, Montgomery,
Butler,
Crenshaw and Pike County backwoods. Notably, Damascus, Friendship and
Spring
Creek Churches in Butler County. He settled his home and farm in Butler
County, near
Damascus, where he and Mary Denice Borom raised their three children.
Eva Victoria, ninth born and last surviving child turned ninety-three
in 2002 and
was able to celebrate her sixty-sixth wedding anniversary with her
husband, Byron Raike
before he died in 2001.
Nell Andress, my mother and the eleventh born child, married Lloyd Benjamin
Kendrick
in 1936. They were the parents of two children, Vance Wayne and Sara
Alyce Kendrick.
I remember her talking about her happy childhood in Butler County.
She was a lifelong,
avid fisherman and her fondest memories were of fishing with her father,
John Lee, at
Pigeon Creek.
The other children, Maude Lee, Sallie Elmetta, Callie Lucille, Mary
Alice,
Joe Frank, and Emma Ruth Andress, lived long and productive lives.
Sources:
Andress Family Bible
Ancestry and Descendants of Joseph Andress 1734-1805 by Hannibal Guy
and Mary F. Andress
Birth, Marriage, Church and Probate Records
Matthew Bishop - Man On A Horse - by Gene Bishop Andress, Sr.
William
Andress Probate Records
Photo of my great grandfather, Stephen Francis Andress, son of William Andress and Anne Rhame.Born in Monroe County on 22 Mar 1824 and died in Butler County on 25 Apr 1908. He is buried in the old Andress Family Cemetery in Butler County that is now being restored. Obit for Stephen F. Andress |
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My grandparents on their wedding day, 28 Mar 1895, in Butler County.
They were married in the Daisy School Community, Beat 7, at the home
of her parents, Eli Lester and
John Lee Andress - 3 Jan 1870 - 10 Apr 1947
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A photo of Jeremiah Andress, another son of William Andress. He was born on 28 Jan 1809 in Sumter District, South Carolina and died in Butler County after 1877. I believe this is a picture of a painting from about 1840 or 1850? He married twice, first to Sarah Anne Bannister and they had 16 [sixteen] children. She died in 1863 and he married Mary Ann Forster Thomas and had 5 [five] more children! Not too many have had twenty-one children! Jeremiah, Sarah Anne and Mary Anne are all buried in the old Andress Cemetery. |
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Francis Marion Andress and Mary Prudence Candace Joiner Andress Family. (Tombstone photos)
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my grandfather, John Lee Andress and his two brothers, Francis Marion and William Joseph Andress. It looks like it was taken about 1888 or even earlier. I am estimating as I know my grandfather was twenty-one when he married in 1895 and he looks quite a bit younger in this picture. On the left side is Francis Marion, John Lee, standing in back, William Joseph Andress on right side. The sons of Stephen Francis Andress and Sarah Johanna East. |
