Representative women of New England/Judith W. Andrews
JUDITH W. ANDREWS, philanthropist, was born in Fryeburg, Me., April 26, 1826. Her maiclen name was Walker. .Her father, Peter Walker, born at Con- cord, N.H., in 1781, died in that city in 1857. Her mother, Abigail Swan Walker, born at Bethel, Me., in 1787, died in Boston in 1861. At Fryeliurg Academy, where she was educated, Judith Walker carried her studies so far as to qualify her to enter the Junior Class of Dart- mouth College. After her graduation from the academy she taught for several years, both in the academy and in young ladies' schools at York and Kittery. Subsecjuently her brother, Dr. Clement Adams Walker, one of the new school of jihysicians for the insane, having been appointed to take charge of the Boston lAmatic Hospital, established in 1839 as the Boston Insane Hospital, she joined him at that insti- tution, and, although never officially connected therewith, she interested herself in the details of its administration, and by her personal at- tention to the patients endeared herself to them. No better school of training could have been found for the activities to which she has given nuich of her life. P^or more than thirtj' j'ears Dr. Walker, who was the third superin- tendent, succeeding Dr. Charles Stedman and his predecessor, Dr. John S. Butlei-, sus- tained and increased the reputation of the hospital for intelligent and humane treatment of the insane. He was much beloved by his patients.
On January 15, 1857, Miss Walker was mar- ried to General Joseph Andrews, of Salem, a man of generous public spirit, who gave much time and labor to the improvement of the militia system of the Commonwealth both be- fore and during the Civil War. In 1863 he removed with his family to Boston, where he died in 1869, leaving Mrs. Andrews with three little boys to care for and educate. The eldest son, Clement Walker Andrews, A.M., is now librarian of the John Crerar Library (scientific), of Chicago, III.; the second, Horace Davis An- drews, is an expert in mining matters in the West; the youngest, Joseph Andrews, holds a position of trust in the Bank of New York, in New York City.
When the family removed to Boston, Mrs. Andrews' became a memlwM- of the South Con- gregational Church (Unitarian). Elected presi- dent of its ladies' organization, the "South Friendly Society," in 1876, she held that posi- tion until January, 1903, when she declined a re-election. Her service of twenty-seven years is the longest in the history of a society in which only five terms have covered its whole existence of seventy years. In 1883 she heljied to organize the South End Industrial School, an institution founded to give elementary manual training to the children of Roxbury and the South End of Boston. It was sup- ported by Unitarian churches and individvials, the South Congregational Church and many of its members being prominent helpers. Mrs. Andrews was elected its first jiresident, and re- mained in office until 1899, when she retired, after sixteen years of faitliful service.
For some years she was a member of the New England Women's Cluli. She is still a mendier of the Woman's Educational Associa- tion, and remains an interested but not an active member of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union. She was one of the or- ganizers of the District Nursing Association and of the Young Travellers' Aid Society, of both of which for a time she was an active mendier and officer. She is also a member of the Women's Anti-suffrage Society, of the Massachusetts Ci^'il Service Reform Associa- tion, and of other smaller organizations.
The South ('ongregational Church, under the influence of its pastor. Dr. Edward Everett Hale, has had witle relations, both inside and outside denominational lines; and these rela- tions have brought to Mrs. Andrews opportu- nities for religious and philanthroj^ic work, to which she has always been ready to respond. While most of these, though requiring much time, work, and thought, are of a local character, two lines of her work have made her name familiar to a large circle throughout the country. Elected in 1886 president of the AVomen's Auxiliary Conference, she was active in the movement to enlarge its scope and usefulness; and in 1889, when the National Alliance of Unitarian and Other Lilieral Christian Women was organized, she became its tirst jiresident, declining a re-election in 1891. For several
years she was a member of the Council of the National Unitarian Conference. She is a life member of the American Unitarian Association.
In 1887, through the eloquent appeals, and later the personal friendship, of Pundita Ramabai Mrs. Andrews became deeply interested in the condition of the high-caste child widows of India. In 1888 she was largely instrumental in the formation of the Ramabai Association, pledged for ten years to support Ramabai in her work for the redemption of her sisters and the uplifting of her people. To the Executive Committee, of which Mrs. Andrews was made chairman, was entrusted the official correspondence concerning the management of the Sharada Sadan (Home of Wisdom) at Poona, also the settlement of many delicate questions arising from a work so opposed to the customs of India. In 1894, as an officer of the association, Mrs. Andrews visited India, and passed nearly eight months at the Sharada Sadan, in daily intercourse with Ramabai and her pupils, becoming acquainted with the details of the home and school, learning the sad histories of the child widows, and studying their charac- teristics and capabilities. She visited some of the most important cities of India with Ra- mabai as "guide, philosopher, and friend,^' thus gaining an insight into the social customs and evils of the country such as she could have obtained in no other way. All of this experience enabled her to return to America with accurate knowledge and increased power to plead Ramabai's cause and to emphasize the purpose, the needs, and the wonderful success of the work. In 1898 the term of the original Ramabai Association expired; and the American Ramabai Association was then formed, to continue the work on nearly the same lines, which lines were strictly undenominational. At this organizatton Ramabai was present. Mrs. Andrews was again made chairman of the Executive Committee, and still holds the position. During the fifteen years' existence of the Ramabai Association it has had but three presidents, the Rev. Dr. Edward E. Hale, the Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott, the Rev. Dr. E. Winchester Donald. Among its officers have been some of the most prominent professional and business men and philanthropic and generous women of Boston. The reputation of this work and the interest in it are world-wide.