Chauncey Hummason Andrews

Background

Chauncey Hummason Andrews was born on December 2, 1823 Vienna, Ohio, United States, the son of Norman Andrews, a native of Connecticut, and of Julia (Hummason) Andrews.

Education

Since the schooling provided at that time for the children of New England families settling in Ohio attempted little beyond "the three R's, " young Andrews had to content himself with a rudimentary education.

Career

In his twenties he explored the coal deposits of the Mahoning Valley, finding much bituminous coal of comparatively low grade. These deposits had not been worked, and needed only improved railroad connection to become profitable.

In 1857 Andrews opened a mine which in nine years produced 500, 000 tons of coal. He formed a partnership with William J. Hitchcock and opened other mines in the '60s, which were worked at a profit for some years but finally were exhausted.

In 1871 he helped to project and build the Mahoning Coal Railroad, which gave an outlet to Lake Erie, and in 1876 he was one of the promoters and organizers of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie. Other lines that he helped to develop were the Pittsburgh, Youngstown & Chicago, and the Pittsburgh, Chicago & Toledo, which were later absorbed into trunk systems. He was also president of the Wood Mower & Reaper Manufacturing Company at Youngstown.

Foreseeing the decline of the coal industry in that part of eastern Ohio, Andrews and his partner extended their operations to Pennsylvania, opening mines in Mercer County and establishing furnaces and rolling-mills.

In 1879 they organized the Imperial Coal Company, which soon attained importance in western Pennsylvania, owning 3, 000 acres of coal-bearing land and mining 1, 000 tons a day.

The city of Youngstown, which was a place of minor importance in 1842, when Andrews and his father became residents of it, grew within his lifetime into a railroad and industrial center for northeastern Ohio, largely because of enterprises that he had initiated or brought to fruition. Within thirty years after his death Youngstown had become a city of 150, 000 inhabitants, with huge investments in the steel industry and other manufactures.

He was also interested in politics and became a delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1884.

Achievements

• Firm decisions, with abounding energy to enforce them, marked his career as an executive. He must also be credited with keen foresight. Because of his mining operations Andrews became a railroad builder and did much to develop the transportation facilities of the Mahoning Valley. Thanks to his efforts, Yongstown became a railroad industrial center with huge investments.

Politics

He interested himself in Republican politics, national and local, and held for a time a controlling interest in one of the Youngstown newspapers.

Personality

Andrews was an alert, aggressive pioneer industrialist. Having adopted a plan of campaign, he would leave no stone unturned to secure its success. Those who thought to contest with him a right-of-way for one of his railroad lines were always caught napping.

Connections

On July 1, 1857, he married Louisa Baldwin.

Father:

Norman Andrews

Mother:

Julia (Hummason) Andrews

Spouse:

Louisa (Baldwin) Andrews