A Journey from Ireland
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| Robert Reid Andrews |
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| Ernest Andrews, front, third from left |
Rob is named for his grandfather, Robert Reade Andrews. His father worked his life in the shipyards. Born in Belfast, Ireland, his grandfather met Rob’s grandmother, Wilhelmina, in Ireland. Walking past a church in Belfast with a friend, Robert Reade Andrews heard the most beautiful voice singing from the inside of the church. He turned to his friend and said, “I’m going to marry that voice.” Less than a year later, he and Wilhelmina were married and expecting their first child, William. Shortly after William was born, hard time brought Rob’s grandfather to America with several other families in 1896. After settling originally in Gloucester City, NJ, he was able to find work at the New York Shipyard in Camden, NJ. The family soon moved to Pittman, NJ. Soon, the family had expanded to include Margaret, Wilhelmina, Charles, and then in 1910, Ernest, Rob’s father. When Rob’s father was 7, his youngest sister, Roberta was born. Shortly thereafter, a flu epidemic passed through New Jersey, and Rob’s grandmother, Wilhelmina, quickly died leaving the children in the care of their oldest sister, Margaret. Less than three months later, Margaret also died of the flu epidemic. The children and Rob’s grandfather were devastated by these deaths. Unable to care for a small infant, the family was forced to give the tiny baby up to another Irish family to raise as their own but under the Andrews’ name. The children were devastated to be torn apart from the baby, and they used to stand in the backyard of the other family’s home crying and desperately trying to see the baby. Finally, the family had to forbid the children from contacting the baby. The children would be grown before they found their baby sister again. Rob’s grandfather wanted his children to have a mother, and he married a woman who had other children. The children were not treated well by the new stepmother. Refusing to tolerate anyone being unkind to his children, Rob’s grandfather did an unusual thing at that time, and he divorced the new mother. Ernest would be eleven years old before one of the most important people in the world to him would enter his life.
When Ernest was eleven, his father began to secretly court a young woman from Camden. One day, while his father was gone, the other children tricked Ernest out on the roof of the second floor and locked the window. Bringing the young woman home to meet his children, Robert walked up to the home and was shocked to see his youngest son sitting on the roof. “Ernest, what are you doing on that roof.” Frightened, Ernest started to cry. The window opened, and a beautiful woman who smelled like violets, pulled the crying child inside and into her arms. This woman’s name was Violet, and she became the most important person to Ernest and his brothers and sisters. She loved the children and taught each of them that it is what is in your heart, not your blood, that makes someone a mother and a famly a home.
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Ernest’s childhood love was his trumpet. He played the trumpet every chance he had. Ernest never graduated from high school, but even after his father helped him get a job at the Shipyard, Ernest continued to play in bands throughout his life. He would laughingly tell his son that he went regularly to exclusive clubs, just through the back door.