engineer officer planter railway executive
Alexander Boyd Andrews was born on July 23, 1841 near Franklinton, North Carolina, United States, the son of William J. Andrews, fourth in line from William Andrews who came to North Carolina from Virginia in 1749, and Virginia (Hawkins) Andrews, a descendant of the Hawkins family famous in Elizabethan England.
At seventeen Andrews finished his education at the Henderson Male Academy and immediately took up work in transportation, an uncle giving him a responsible position in the building of a South Carolina railroad.
The war came, and young Andrews enlisted in the 16t North Carolina Cavalry. He served under the dashing commands of J. E. B. Stuart and Wade Hampton. In 1862 he was made captain. But active service ended in September 1863, when he was almost mortally wounded in an action at Jack's Shop, Virginia.
At the close of the war, penniless and with shattered health, he took up courageously the task of earning a livelihood. Observing that the railroad bridge across the Roanoke River had been destroyed, he entered into a contract to ferry over passengers and freight. His long career as an operator and builder of railroads began two years later.
In 1867 he accepted an offer of the position of superintendent of the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad, and a year later he also became superintendent of the Chatham Railroad. His capacity in directing these roads and building extensions was recognized by the Richmond & Danville Railroad Company, and when that expanding system leased the North Carolina Railroad, running between Charlotte and Goldsboro, he was made superintendent of that line. Under the Richmond & Danville his responsibilities steadily increased.
While still holding his original position he became successively assistant to the president of the system, third vice-president, and second vice-president. During these years he was also busy with the building of many short lines, controlled by the Richmond & Danville, and was president of many of them. His most noted single achievement was probably the building of an extension of the Western North Carolina Railroad almost to the western state line, opening up the mountainous western section.
Against immense physical, financial, and political handicaps he fulfilled a pledge he had made to complete the line if the state should furnish certain convict labor and carry out other promises. When the Richmond & Danville was merged in the Southern Railway in 1894 Andrews became first vice-president of the latter company and held that position until his death.
Multifarious as they were, his railroad duties did not engross all his attention. He was interested in other business enterprises and held several official positions, among them that of state commissioner to the Chicago World's Fair.
In addition to his rail interests, Andrews was a director (1871-1915) and vice-president (1890-1915) of Citizens' National Bank and also a director of the Raleigh Savings Bank and Trust Company, the Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, the North Carolina Home Insurance Company, and the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company of Birmingham, Alabama. A trustee of The University of North Carolina (1885-1915) and founder and president (1891-1915) of the Home for Confederate Veterans in Raleigh, he also served as state commissioner and fifth vice-president for the Columbian Exposition of Chicago in 1893.
He died at his home at 407 North Blount Street and was buried with Masonic rites at Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh.
Andrews was the Vice President of the Southern Railway Company and one of the men responsible for the construction of the railroad between Old Fort and Asheville, North Carolina, in the late 19th century. He took a prominent part in the Civil War, achieving the rank of colonel. The high reputation earned Andrews considerable influence in state Democratic administrations. Andrews Geyser, a man-made fountain in Old Fort, North Carolina, was named in his honour.
Andrews was Episcopalian and a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Raleigh.
Andrews was a member of the Democratic party.
His portrait shows him to have been a man of large build, with full face and heavy mustache.
On September 1, 1869 he married Julia Martha Johnston, the daughter of Col. William Johnston of Charlotte. The couple had five children.
She died at the age of three.
