Early Life and Career
John A. Andrew was born in Windham, Maine. His father, Jonathan Andrew was a descendant of an early settler of Boxford, Massachusetts and a small but prosperous trader in Windham. His mother, Nancy Green Pierce, was a teacher at Fryeburg Academy. John Albion was the eldest son. His mother died in 1832.
Andrew entered Bowdoin College in 1833. Although he was studious and popular with other students, he did not shine academically and was ranked near the lowest in his class. After his graduation in 1837, he moved to Boston to study law under Henry H. Fuller, with whom he became close friends.
Andrew married Eliza Jane Hersey of Hingham on Christmas evening, 1848. They had four children: John Forrester, born November 26, 1850; Elizabeth Loring, born July 29, 1852; Edith, born April 5, 1854; Henry Hersey, born April 28, 1858.
After his admission to the bar, Andrew joined the Whig party and began to support the anti-slavery movement. In 1848, he helped organize the Free Soil Party, which opposed the expansion of slavery. Following the failure of the Free Soil Party, Andrew joined the Republican party in the mid-1850s.
He was elected to as a Representative in the General Court in 1857. Following John Brown's 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, Andrew participated in organizing legal aid for Brown, generating favorable responses amongst the people of Massachusetts. In 1860, he was elected governor of Massachusetts by a huge margin.
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