John Andrews

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For other persons named John Andrews, see John Andrews (disambiguation).

Rev. John Andrews, D.D., a Colonial/American clergyman, professor, author and provost, was born in Cecil County on Eastern Shore of Maryland, on April 4, 1746, the son of Moses and Letitia Cooke Andrews. He grew up on a 75 acre tract of land called "Lesson" (patented to his father March 10th, 1746) in Cecil Co. His great-grandfather (John Andrews) immigrated from the County of Rutland, England to America in Anne Arundel/Calvert Counties of the Province of Maryland under the patronage of Lord Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore about the year 1654. Reverend Andrews is considered "America's First Scholar", for he dedicated his whole life to studying, teaching, writing, lecturing, preaching, creating and administrating colleges.

He graduated from The Academy and College of Philadelphia in 1764 and immediately taught grammar school in Philadelphia. He studied theology under Rev. Thomas Barton(Rector of St James Church, Lancaster Pa) and was ordained to be a minister in the Anglican Church in London in 1767. Reverend Andrews was one of the leaders of the group which separated the American Episcopal Church from the Anglican Church, and later advocated the union of the Episcopal and Methodist churches. He was sent by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts to Lewes, Delaware, where he ministered at St. Peter's Church from 1767 through 1770. Within the years 1770 to 1775, he transferred to York, Pennsylvania where he took charge of St. John's Church and St. John's Church in Carlisle, Pa., with missionary jurisdiction in Cumberland and York Counties, Pa.

Sometime in 1775 he accepted charge of St. John's Church in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, and remained there until the commencement of the Revolutionary War, when, not considering himself absolved from the oath of allegiance to England at the time of his admission to Holy Orders (although a decided American in politics), he did not think himself at liberty to cancel that obligation, and assume another to the United States. He therefore became disqualified for the public exercise of his profession and removed again to York, Pa. in 1776 and formed classical academy, which he conducted with distinguished reputation and success. It than became incorporated as The York Academy within St. John's Episcopal Church, York, Pa. which evolve to today's York College of Pennsylvania.

When the independence of the United States became firmly established and acknowledged, he resumed the exercise of his clerical functions and subsequently returned to Maryland in 1782, and became rector of the parish of St. Thomas Church, Garrison Forest, in Baltimore County, Maryland up to April 1784, He was a member of the 1784 convention which separate from British rule and organized the Protestant Episcopal Church. His superior talents and acquirements in classical literature were so conspicuous that when the Protestant Episcopal Academy was instituted in Philadelphia in 1785, he was solicited by the unanimous vote of the trustees to accept the charge of the same. The honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland in 1785. He was principal of the The Episcopal Academy, Philadelphia, 1785 to 1789, and was professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Pennsylvania, 1789 to University of Pennsylvania, 1789 to 1813; also vice-Provost of the said university, 1789 to 1810, and Provost same, 1810 to 1813. In his day he was known to be one of the greatest classical scholars in the country and had enhanced skill and experience in teaching. One of his pupils, John McAllister, described Andrews as "tall and dignified and courteous, honest in opinions, of good judgment, benevolent, cheerful and a fine conversationalist". Andrews was also a great admirer of the Constitution, which he recommended and illustrated with great force and ability in his lectures on politics.

Up to the time of his death, he was Rector of St. James Church, Bristol, Pa., and assistant minister of Christ Church, Philadelphia. He married Elizabeth Callender, daughter of Robert Callender of Carlisle, Pa. There children were Robert, John, Letitia, Mary, Joesph, William Neill, George, Elizabeth Callender, Edward and Mary Benger

He died of a sudden illness on March 29, 1813. Buried among Ben Franklin and signers of the Declaration of Independence in the Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia. A portrait of him exists by the famous limner, Thomas Sully. He wrote textbooks, including A Compend of Logick (1801), Metamorphoseon (1805), and Elements of Rhetorick and Belles Lettres (1813).

[edit] References

  • Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1967.
  • Universal Pronouncing Dictionary of Biography and Mythology,Vol.1 by J. Thomas, Philadelphia: Lippincott and Co. 1870.