SETH LATHROP ANDREWS

Seth Lathrop Andrews was born June 24, 1809, at Putney, Vermont. He was educated at Dartmouth College from which he graduated in 1831. He also attended Medical College at Fairfield, New York, following which he practiced at Pittsford, New York.

Dr. Andrews married Parnelly Pierce at Pittsford on November 11, 1836. On December 14, 1836, the young couple sailed for Hawaii aboard the barque, "Mary Frazier", with the Eighth Missionary Company. After a voyage of 116 days, they arrived in Honolulu on April 9, 1837.

Dr. and Mrs. Andrews located at Kailua, Hawaii, where they found a comfortable home in the stone house built by the Rev. Artemas Bishop. Dr. Andrews was the only physician on Hawaii and to treat the mission families had to make frequent, arduous, and at times perilous journeys by land and by sea, which severely taxed his health. Of necessity, he was accompanied on many of these trips by his wife and one or more infant children. On one occasion he traveled on foot through woods from Hilo to Waimea with his wife and son, about four years of age, through almost incessant rain, unprovided with a tent or other shelter by night. Probably Andrews experienced more of the hardships of missionary life than any other members of the mission.

During the years at Kailua, Dr. and Mrs. Andrews became the parents of four children: George Pierce born in 1838, Elizabeth Woodbury in 1841, Lucy Amelia in 1844, and Charles Thurston in 1846. Only George survived, the other three dying in infancy, and on September 29, 1846, Mrs. Andrews passed away. The doctor's own health was greatly impaired as a result of a severe attack of dysentery, and on November 7, 1848, he and his son left the Islands aboard the "Uncas".

With his health restored, Dr. Andrews married Amelia Tamison Dyke at Pittsford on April 13, 1852. Later they adopted a daughter, Carrie Elizabeth (Mrs. John H. Potter).

In 1852, at his own request, the doctor had been released from the American Board of Missions. Thereafter he settled at Romeo, Michigan, where he engaged in practice. Dr. Andrews died February 17, 1893, at the age of 83.

The doctor was always an interested student of all natural phenomena. One room of his house in Romeo was devoted to his large collection of plants, minerals, shells, implements, etc. from Hawaii.

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