CLAYTON, Mrs. Florence Andrews, opera singer, born near Le Sueur, Minn., in 1862. She is the ninth child of Rev. Mr. Andrews, one of the pioneer Methodist ministers of Minnesota. At that time Le Sueur was well out on the western frontier, and most of the settlers of that region abandoned their homes and crowded into St- Peter
during the Indian outbreak. The Andrews family stuck to their farm near the little village Two of the older sons entered the army of defense against
FLORENCE ANDREWS CLAYTON.
the Indians and were in the battle of New Ulm. Both Mr. Andrews and his wife were natural, though untrained musicians, and all of their ten children, known as the Andrews Family, inherited musical ability. In 1876 Miss Andrews, then fourteen years of age. went upon the stage with her brothers and sisters for their first year with the "Swiss Bells." They played in Minnesota and adjoining States, making trips southward as far as the southern border of the Indian Territory. She has since then been continually before the public, except for longer or shorter vacations. She became the wife of
Fred Clayton, of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1883. who is also with the present Andrews Opera Company. They have two sons. The musical culture of Mrs. Clayton has been received mostly by instruction from and association with some of the most competent vocal artists of the country, while she has been traveling and working with them. She has thus obtained that thorough and practical knowledge of her art which can be secured in no other way. Her repertoire consists of forty operas, tragic and comic. She is not only an excellent vocalist, but also a fine actor, with a natural adaptation to dramatic parts. Her voice is a contralto.