JEREMIAH TAYLOR ANDREWS is an enigma.

• He was certainly not descended from Matthew and Sarah Andrews of Drumachose, the parish church of Limavady.
• 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.
• A Jeremiah Andrews was living next to Henry Andrews in Drumachose at the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1858-9.

JEREMIAH TAYLOR ANDREWS (181?-?) was probably born around 1810.

On Wednesday 8 July 1835, he married Martha Rogers, "of the city of Armagh". The officiant was the Rev. James Gibson. If the age on her death certificate is correct, she would have been 23 at the time.

Jeremiah appears in Lennox's New Commercial Directory of 1840 as an auctioneer and valuator in Upper English Street, Armagh. (The job of valuator, or valuer, was especially important at a time when taxation and rents were becoming a political issue.) He is also listed as a coach agent (the railway arrived in Armagh in 1848). He is also listed in Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland (1846) as an auctioneer and valuator in Lower English St.

Jeremiah was living in Armagh in 1841, when he was was a member of the jury in a murder case at Armagh Assizes on 7 August. (Patrick Wood was convicted of murdering a policeman, Thomas Powell, on 2 January of that year. The trial extended over three days.) He was still in Armagh in 1844, where his son, Thomas was born. He described himself at Thomas' baptism as a valuator.

The earliest advertisement for a sale by him that has yet been found appeared in the Newry Telegraph for 29 August 1843. The Armagh Guardian of 11 February 1845 bears an advertisement for a house auction to be conducted by him, and further advertisements appear throughout that year. It seems the salerooms were in Upper English St. An advertisement of 28 January 1845 reads:

Mr. J. T. ANDREWS
 TAKES leave respectfully to inform the Public, that he is
 fitting up a Sales'-Room, at 28, UPPER ENGLISH-STREET, 
 (opposite the Tontine,) where he will dispose of by Auction, 
 on stated days, or by Private Sale, if so instructed, Goods and 
 Property of every description.  The want of such a medium of 
 disposing of Goods and Property in this City, by persons not 
 wishing to be troubled with sales at their own residences, and 
 for other causes, has been much felt; and it is by the desire 
 and advice of some of his most particular friends and patrons 
 that Mr. A. is opening the above concern.  Persons sending 
 Property to this Establishment will find that every exertion 
 shall be made to dispose of it to the best advantage, and parti- 
 cular attention shall be paid to Commissions to buy Goods for 
 parties who cannot themselves attend at Sales. 
   Mr. ANDREWS takes this opportunity of returning his grate- 
 ful thanks to the Public for the very liberal support he has 
 received, (having been favoured with the conducting of the 
 principal Sales that have taken place in Armagh and neighbour- 
 hood,) since he commenced the business of an Auctioneer.  He 
 refers with confidence to those for whom he has done business, 
 for the manner in which he conducts and settles the Sales with 
 which he is intrusted. 
         Notice of the first day of Sale will be given in a future 
 advertisement. 
                                 ------------------ 
         Wanted to Purchase, Two Second-hand Piano Fortes, 
 For one of which a liberal sum will be given, and it will be 
 required to be a good well-toned instrument, with all the modern 
 improvements, and not much used ; the other is intended for a 
 learner, and will not be required to be so good. 
   Apply to 
                                         J. T. ANDREWS, 
                                                 Auction Sales' Rooms, 
                                   29, Upper English-street, Armagh. 
   20th Jan. 1845,

In the Armagh Guardian for 29 June 1846. there is an advertisement to state that "Mr M R Bell has taken out a license (sic) as an auctioneer", giving 51 English Street as the address. (It seems the whole of English Street in Armagh was renumbered about this time - the present-day number 51 is roughly opposite the site of the City Hall, which replaced the old Tontine Buildings.) It is quite likely that Jeremiah moved away from Armagh at the end of 1845.

The name Jeremiah is unusual, and there are no likely deaths registered in Ireland after the start of civil registration in 1864. There is no trace of him in the Armagh or the Waterford press in 1861. In 1874 he was described on his son's marriage certificate as an accountant, but there is no evidence that he was alive at the time. He had certainly died by 1882, as Martha his wife was described as a widow.

Martha moved to Waterford, and was the informant at her granddaughter Clara's birth in 1877. She died, aged 70, on 26 March 1882 at her son's home, 10 Bridge Street, Waterford. A Margaret Harrington, also living in Bridge Street, was the informant of her death.

Jeremiah had a son:

1 THOMAS ANDREWS (1844-1921), baptized at Armagh Cathedral on 20 April 1844, of whom more anon.