Biographical Sketch

John Forrester Andrew (1850-1895) was a Boston lawyer, politician, and advocate for civil service reform. He was born on November 26, 1850, in Hingham, Mass., the son of John A. Andrew, governor of Massachusetts from 1861-1865, and Eliza Jones Hersey. He attended private schools in Hingham and the Phillips Grammar and Brooks Schools in Boston. After his graduation from Harvard University in 1872, he traveled abroad with his mother and siblings for a year. Upon his return, he attended Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1875. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1875.

From 1875-1876, he apprenticed in the firm of Brooks, Ball and Storey in Boston and, in September 1876, started his own practice in association with Albert Boyd Otis, his father's former law partner.

In 1880, Andrew was elected as a Republican to the Massachusetts Legislature from the ninth ward of Boston, serving three successive terms in the House and one term as state senator. He was known as a non-partisan, independent political thinker and voted to abolish the poll tax as a prerequisite for voting. He participated extensively on committees, including the Judiciary Committee of both branches of the Legislature and the Committees on the Revision of the Statues (1881), Expediting Business (1882), and on Bills in the Third Reading and Election Laws. He also chaired the Committee on Street Railways. He introduced a bill to establish a Civil Service Commission in 1884, moved to abolish the custom of preaching the election sermon, and introduced a bill to repeal the law providing that an atheist's disbelief in God affects his credibility as a witness.

In 1883, he married Harriet Thayer, with whom he had two daughters, Cornelia Thayer Andrew and Elizabeth Andrew.

In 1884, he was delegate to the National Republican Convention in Chicago, where he was one of a small group that actively sought to prevent the nomination of the Republican candidate James Blaine of Maine, who they believed to be corrupt and a spoilsman. Soon after the convention, he joined the Independent Republican movement, taking up the issues of civil service, tariff, municipal, and currency reform. He was elected president of the Young Men's Independent Club of Boston and spoke in support of the Democratic presidential candidate, Grover Cleveland of New York, who ultimately won the election. The movement by Independent Republicans to oppose Blaine was also known as the Mugwump revolt, and Andrew was a key player in Boston. Andrew was nominated for the U.S. Senate in 1884 on the Independent Republican ticket and, with Democratic support, was elected by a large majority.

In 1886, Andrew was invited to be the Democratic candidate for governor. He initially refused but later accepted on the condition that the party endorse civil service and tariff reform. He did not win the gubernatorial race, but in 1888 and again in 1890, he was elected to Congress by the Democrats of the third district of Massachusetts. He ran again unsuccessfully in 1892.

From 1885-1889, and again in 1894, Andrew served as parks commissioner in Boston. At the beginning of his service, the Back Bay Fens was about half-finished, and the establishment of the City of Boston Parks System had just begun. Andrew was instrumental in developing the parks system, including the addition of Castle Island, and for extending the main park system from the Fens to Jamaica Pond. He also extended Arnold Arboretum and recommended the establishment of playgrounds and open-air gymnasiums around the city.

Andrew was weakened by a bout of malaria in the summer of 1891, and his wife died the following autumn. It is thought that he never fully recovered from the illness and the loss of his wife. He returned to Boston in the spring of 1893 at the close of the 52nd Congress in a weakened physical condition, from which he did not recover until the summer of 1894. On May 30, 1895, he died very suddenly of a stroke at home in Boston.

Andrew's funeral service was conducted at the First Church in Boston. He was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.