Background
Lorin Andrews was born on April 1, 1819 in Ashland, Ohio, United States. He was the son of Alanson and Sally (Gates) Andrews, both originally of Massachusetts but, at the time of his birth, among the earliest settlers of Ashland, Ohio.
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Lorin Andrews
Edit ProfileEducation
Born in a log cabin, he acquired such education as the local schools could furnish, taught a country school, and in 1837 entered the preparatory department of Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio.
In 1838 he entered the college in the same class with Rutherford B. Hayes, but withdrew in 1840, owing to lack of money.
Career
He taught at Ashland Academy, and at Mansfield, Ohio; then was called back to Ashland as principal of the Academy; then became superintendent of the newly organized "union school" of Massillon, Ohio.
He was one of the founders of the Ohio State Teachers' Association, in 1847, and became chairman of its executive committee. In order to devote himself wholly to this work he resigned his teaching position in 1851. It was his influence, more than that of any other one man, that secured the adoption of the excellent "School Law of 1853, " and through his incessant lecturing before teachers' institutes he showed the teachers how their work should be done, and filled many of them with enthusiasm for their profession.
Under the new school law a state school commissioner was to be elected; Andrews was the unanimous choice of the teachers, but failed to obtain the nomination. Thereupon, in 1853, the trustees of Kenyon College elected him president of that institution. Here his success was remarkable; he brought up the college, both in number of students and in financial strength, to the most prosperous condition it had ever known.
In 1861, immediately upon President Lincoln's call for volunteers, he enlisted, and is believed to have been the first volunteer in Ohio. His example was followed by hundreds of teachers and other men, who had become accustomed to look to him for leadership. He raised, in Knox County, Ohio, a company of soldiers that was soon incorporated into the 4th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made colonel.
In the summer of 1861, before the regiment had seen much service, he was taken with "camp fever" in West Virginia, and was carried home to Gambier, Ohio, where he died. Great numbers of people from all parts of the state attended his funeral and saw his body laid to rest in the college cemetery, where a marble obelisk now marks his grave.
Achievements
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Andrews was a notable figure in the development of education. He was an advocate for school reforms including: free grade schools in towns and villages, a state education commissioner, common school libraries, township boards of education, state funding of child education, a monthly journal of education, legislative support of institutes, improved buildings, increased wages, and increased public support for education. In 1848, together with Mortimer Dormer Leggett, Andrews became editor of The Free School Clarion. He was a noted advocate of the 1853 School Law which made many of these reforms including the election of a state school commissioner. Andrews also entered history as "the first man in Ohio to volunteer for the Union Army. "
Connections
On October 30, 1843, he married Sarah Gates of Worcester, Massachussets, by whom he had three children.
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Born
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Died
September 18, 1861 (aged 42) -
Resting place
Kenyon College Cemetery, United States -
Nationality
American -
Religion
Episcopal