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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND


JUDITH W. ANDREWS, philanthropist, was born in Fryeburg, Me., April 26, 1826. Her maiclen name was Walker. .Her father, Peter Walker, born at Con- cord, N.H., in 1781, died in that city in 1857. Her mother, Abigail Swan Walker, born at Bethel, Me., in 1787, died in Boston in 1861. At Fryeliurg Academy, where she was educated, Judith Walker carried her studies so far as to qualify her to enter the Junior Class of Dart- mouth College. After her graduation from the academy she taught for several years, both in the academy and in young ladies' schools at York and Kittery. Subsecjuently her brother, Dr. Clement Adams Walker, one of the new school of jihysicians for the insane, having been appointed to take charge of the Boston lAmatic Hospital, established in 1839 as the Boston Insane Hospital, she joined him at that insti- tution, and, although never officially connected therewith, she interested herself in the details of its administration, and by her personal at- tention to the patients endeared herself to them. No better school of training could have been found for the activities to which she has given nuich of her life. P^or more than thirtj' j'ears Dr. Walker, who was the third superin- tendent, succeeding Dr. Charles Stedman and his predecessor, Dr. John S. Butlei-, sus- tained and increased the reputation of the hospital for intelligent and humane treatment of the insane. He was much beloved by his patients.

On January 15, 1857, Miss Walker was mar- ried to General Joseph Andrews, of Salem, a man of generous public spirit, who gave much time and labor to the improvement of the militia system of the Commonwealth both be- fore and during the Civil War. In 1863 he removed with his family to Boston, where he died in 1869, leaving Mrs. Andrews with three little boys to care for and educate. The eldest son, Clement Walker Andrews, A.M., is now librarian of the John Crerar Library (scientific), of Chicago, III.; the second, Horace Davis An- drews, is an expert in mining matters in the West; the youngest, Joseph Andrews, holds a position of trust in the Bank of New York, in New York City.

When the family removed to Boston, Mrs. Andrews' became a memlwM- of the South Con- gregational Church (Unitarian). Elected presi- dent of its ladies' organization, the "South Friendly Society," in 1876, she held that posi- tion until January, 1903, when she declined a re-election. Her service of twenty-seven years is the longest in the history of a society in which only five terms have covered its whole existence of seventy years. In 1883 she heljied to organize the South End Industrial School, an institution founded to give elementary manual training to the children of Roxbury and the South End of Boston. It was sup- ported by Unitarian churches and individvials, the South Congregational Church and many of its members being prominent helpers. Mrs. Andrews was elected its first jiresident, and re- mained in office until 1899, when she retired, after sixteen years of faitliful service.

For some years she was a member of the New England Women's Cluli. She is still a mendier of the Woman's Educational Associa- tion, and remains an interested but not an active member of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union. She was one of the or- ganizers of the District Nursing Association and of the Young Travellers' Aid Society, of both of which for a time she was an active mendier and officer. She is also a member of the Women's Anti-suffrage Society, of the Massachusetts Ci^'il Service Reform Associa- tion, and of other smaller organizations.

The South ('ongregational Church, under the influence of its pastor. Dr. Edward Everett Hale, has had witle relations, both inside and outside denominational lines; and these rela- tions have brought to Mrs. Andrews opportu- nities for religious and philanthroj^ic work, to which she has always been ready to respond. While most of these, though requiring much time, work, and thought, are of a local character, two lines of her work have made her name familiar to a large circle throughout the country. Elected in 1886 president of the AVomen's Auxiliary Conference, she was active in the movement to enlarge its scope and usefulness; and in 1889, when the National Alliance of Unitarian and Other Lilieral Christian Women was organized, she became its tirst jiresident, declining a re-election in 1891. For several