The Andrews Family of Ulster & Waterford

The name Andrews is common in parts of Ulster, and suggests a Scottish connection. This connection is made more likely by the family's Church of Ireland tradition. Family tradition also has it that the Andrews family bred horses in Ulster.

Our knowledge of one branch of the family, which settled in County Waterford in the mid-nineteenth century, goes back only as far as Jeremiah Taylor Andrews, born about 1810, perhaps in County Londonderry.

Jeremiah Taylor Andrews is an enigma.

• A Jeremiah Andrews was witness at the marriage of William Kennedy to Peggy Jane Andrews on 23 August 1839 at Garvagh's First Presbyterian Church.
• Intriguingly, a Jeremiah Andrews and a Margaret Kelly, als Buckley, were godparents of Thomas, son of James Blake and Anastasia Meighan, baptized at St Patrick's Roman Catholic church in Waterford on 14 January 1838.
• In view of the similarity of the names, it is interesting to note that in 1901, a Matthew Andrews, a 51-year-old widowed farmer born in County Londonderry, was living at Carrowmuddle, Myroe, five miles north of Limavady, with his six daughters, Cassie (25), Susie (19), Maria (18), Mary Eliza (13), Lily (10) and Ethel (7), and two sons, Matthew (15) and Connolly (12). Two further presumed sons were living next door, Jeremiah (21, a farmer) and Marcus (16, a hardware shopman). All were born within the county, and all were members of the Church of Ireland. Their gravestone at Ballykelly, in Tamlaght Finlagan parish, records the deaths of Mary Ann Andrews of Carrowmuddle on 12 March 1900, aged 50, of Matthew himself on 12 March 1904, aged 54, of Jeremiah on 16 May 1907, aged 28, of Maria on 2 October 1918, aged 36, of Susan on 21 September 1966, of Ethel M. Andrews on 1 March 1968, and of Conly Andrews on 23 May 1970. (The parish register records that Matthew was buried on 14 March 1904, and Jeremiah on 19 May 1907.) (According to the Probate Records, this Jeremiah died on 23 May 1907 aged 27. He was born in Drumachose on 28 May 1879, the son of Matthew Andrew, or Andrews, and Mary Anne Coleman. His will was proved on 21 July, but is missing from the box in Dublin's Public Record Office. Marcus Mark, another farmer, was his administrator.)

A MATTHEW ANDREWS (179?-18??) was perhaps born in the 1790's.

Matthew Andrews and his wife Sarah, née Drummond, were in the parish of Drumachose, in the Keenacht Barony, Limavady Union, in County Londonderry in 1822. He is probably the Matthew Andrew sic listed at Drummond, in the parish of Drumachose, some three miles west of Limavady, in Griffith's Valuation of 1858-9, occupying 26 acres held from Marcus M'Causland, deputy-lieutenant of the county. Jeremiah Andrew is shown occupying the premises next door.

There are four Andrews baptized around this time in Drumachose.

1 AGNES ANDREWS (1820-??), baptized on 31 May 1820 at Drumachose. However, her mother is given as Margaret McCallum.

2 JEREMIAH ANDREWS (1822-1885?), baptized on 15 March 1822 at Drumachose. Although he is clearly not the same as the Jeremiah Taylor Andrews of this account, the similarity of name and background are significant. (He may be the Jeremiah Andrews who died on 24 May 1885 at Limavady.)

3 MARGARET ANDREWS (1839-??), baptized on 28 December 1839 at Drumachose. Her mother's name is simply given as Margaret.

4 MATTHEW ANDREWS (1842-??), baptized on 27 February 1842 at Drumachose. His mother's name is likewise given as Margaret.