James Henderson Andrews 1882--1970, a biography

The paper is a combined chronological and topical presentation of the life and times of James H. Andrews from his birth in 1882 to his death in 1970. It includes some of his family's Scottish antecedents that molded part of his life in Larimer County, Colorado. His father's cattle ranching success in Wyoming and later banking business in the Poudre Valley National Bank of Fort Collins gave James a successful start. James' early education at the Remington School in Fort Collins was followed by college at the Colorado Agricultural College now C. S. U. and culminated in his graduation as a civil and irrigation engineer. His work experience included the construction of the Fort Collins Sugar Factory, the construction of several major irrigation canals, the reconstruction of part of the Colorado and Southern Railway roadbed, and the construction of the Ideal Cement Company plant at Laporte. He bought the Stonewall Ranch at Livermore of some 10,000 acres and raised purebred Shorthorn Hereford cattle for thirty-two years. During the Depression years of the 1930s and after, he was involved in mining which helped financially when he lost the Stonewall Ranch by foreclosure in November 1938. He was well thought of for his engineering and surveying abilities and was elected several times as County Surveyor. He married Lydia Warren late in life and had three children; Warren, Julia, and Helen. After Lydia died in 1956, James married an old-time grade school friend, Shirley Kissock DeConley, (only partially successfully, he had to get his own breakfasts). James' father had died of asthma at fifty-one and James had asthma most of his life which made it difficult to work. Most of the paper is derived from original documentation of letters, deeds, diaries, checkbooks, and pictures the family has preserved.