Background on Andrews Family
Nigel Lyon Andrews was born May 24, 1921 as the eldest son of Paul Shipman Andrews and Hannah Sargent Sessions Andrews of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington line. He had one younger brother, William (Bill) Shankland Andrews. Nigel attended Pebble Hill School in Syracuse, New York before moving to St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island in 1939. He then attended Yale University where he met and married his wife Connie, who was receiving her education in music, and they both graduated with their bachelor’s degrees in 1943. In the early 1940s, Nigel served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, later earning the title of Captain for his efforts. After the war, Nigel returned to school to earn a law degree at Syracuse University and practice law within Syracuse including a two-year position as law clerk to Judge Edmund Lewis of the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany. It was also during his time in Syracuse that he helped found the Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music along with his wife Connie, and with violinist Louis Krasner. In 1953, Nigel left the field of law to enter priesthood and attended Berkeley Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut to then become the first vicar and later rector of St. Ann's Church in Old Lyme, Connecticut from 1954 to 1962. Afterwards, he become rector of Trinity Church in Concord, Massachusetts from 1962-1979, then rector of Trinity Church in Concord, Massachusetts from 1962-1979 during a turbulent time of social unrest. Despite criticism, Nigel along with other pastors, attended the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Finally, he was a rector of St. Peter’s By-the-Sea in Narragansett, Rhode Island before officially retiring in 1987 to Jamestown, Rhode Island. In retirement he continued to serve as an assisting clergyman at Trinity Church until his passing on January 19, 2006.
Nigel married Constance (Connie) Doane Young Andrews of Newport, Rhode Island in 1942 in the chapel of St. George’s School. Connie was born June 1, 1921 the daughter of Dr. John Albion Young and Ellen Spooner Gladding Young, both of whom have well-documented genealogies going back to the Mayflower colonists and beyond into English history. Connie was an avid sailor, and even survived a shipwreck from the 1938 New England Hurricane. After graduating with a bachelor’s in music with many prizes for her work, she began her career as a concert pianist and played under the distinguished conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos, who later did concerts for the Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music. Connie also served as a church organist and choir director in Syracuse and later in Old Lyme, Concord, and Saunderstown, Rhode Island. When she and Nigel moved to Rhode Island she was appointed conductor and artistic director of the Swanhurst Choral Society in Newport, where she worked for 15 years before retiring. She also served on several diocesan music commissions, organized choir tours to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City from Old Lyme, and to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. from Concord. She also organized presentations of a series of chancel dramas in Concord and a Revels performance in Newport.
Nigel and Connie had three sons, Richard (Pete) Nigel Lyon Andrews, Paul Shipman Andrews II, and John Albion Young Andrews. Pete married Hannah Page Wheeler and they had two children, Sarah Huntington Andrews and Christopher Page Monteith Andrews. Chris married Emily Harville of Madison, Wisconsin and had three children, Charles Nigel Harville Andrews, James Gladding Cornell Andrews, and Elizabeth Abigail Andrews.
Nigel’s parents, Paul Shipman Andrews and Hannah Sargent Sessions Andrews, also encompass a significant portion of this collection of family papers. His father Paul (also referenced as PSA in the collection) was the only child of Justice William Shankland Andrews of the New York State Court of Appeals. He was a military officer during World War I who then earned his law degree and served as Dean of the Syracuse University Law School for 26 years. His Deanship was interrupted by a return to the military service for World War II for which he spent time abroad in North Africa and Italy. He won a variety of medals and citations that are included in the collection. He also became an active member in the World Association of World Federalists and the United World Federalists, and developed multiple “Neutrals for Peace” proposals which envisioned an alliance of the non-aligned nations to ease tensions between the U.S. and Communist powers. The comprehensive plan was known as "The Great Proposal". It was during this time that he met with a variety of “neutral” nations leaders personally through the 1950’s. After the death of his first wife Hannah Sargent Sessions, Paul met his second wife Elizabeth Peterson Andrews abroad and married 1963 - shortly before his death a few years later in 1967. Paul's mother, Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews, was a well-known 19th century author, with her most well-known book being The Perfect Tribute which was a retelling of the story of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Paul's father was Chief Judge Charles Andrews of the New York State Court of Appeals.
Other noted figures include Connie’s three older siblings: John (Jack) Albion Young Jr. who was a petroleum geologist; Marjorie Young Burgess Wolff who was the first female naval architect in America – her first husband was W. Starling Burgess, a yacht designer, and her second husband was Paul Anthony Wolff who was one of the inventors of the offshore oil-drilling rig whose design can be found in the Smithsonian; and Richard Cady Young who was a naval officer and later a businessman.
