Nelson Lord Andrus - Biography
By Don E. Springer ~ retyped & some corrections made by:
Denise McQuiston, gr. gr. granddaughter of Nelson

Date of Birth: January 14, 1827 in New York State ~ born of Scotch Irish Parents
Date of Death: May 19, 1907 in Dayton, Washington at 2:30 AM

Early Life: When Nelson was very young, his family moved to French Landing on Eagle Lake, Michigan. He grew to manhood in this general area and married for the first time to Ann Elizabeth Jones on January 29, 1857. To this union two children were born; Jim and Ella. Ann passed away sometime after 1862. He left Michigan after she died and traveled to Oregon, where he settled in a small village called Canby. It was there that he met and married Nancy Mattoon on July 10, 1868. Prior to his settling in Oregon he did make one trip to the gold rush country in California in 1849. To this second marriage, the following eight children were born: Fannie (wife of John Bramlett and mother of Lela Bramlett Springer, Hazel Dell Bramlett Messersmith, and Nina Bramlett) , Mary (called May), Amy, Charlie, Nettie, Anna, Mabel, and Frankie who died as an infant.

Later Life: At age 46 or thereabout, he realized that he was gifted with what they now called ESP. He was able to diagnose many cases of illnesses and provide treatment especially through the use of herbs that he gathered in the hills around Dayton. He became known as Doctor Andrus. He also mixed and made liniments for his patients. My Aunt, Hazel Bramlett Messersmith, has told me, and has written many interesting happenings with Dr. Andrus. She wrote that she never knew him to work very hard, but lived on the money sent to him in letters from people he had doctored. E delivered most all of his Grandchildren. He was called one day by a lady who told him that her baby would not stop crying. He told her that if she would look at the diaper she was using, she would find that there was a pin sticking the baby ~ and sure enough when the lady looked, that was the trouble. Hazel stayed with her Grandparents for some time and attended Dayton High School. One day she was reading a letter from one of her boyfriends to Grandpa Andrus, and had skipped a paragraph that was somewhat personal and she did not want her Grandfather to hear. When she had finished he said, “Hazel, go back and read that part you skipped.” Which really surprised her and she had no idea he knew and he could not see the letter. Another time, she had carefully taken a picture of a boyfriend up to her room and hit it in a suitcase. A supper that night, Grandpa Andrus said; “Hazel, run upstairs and get that picture of that young fella, I want to see what he looks like.” Again Hazel was so surprised, as he had no way of knowing about the picture. One of his patients was trying to fool him and he sent him a lock of his pregnant wife’s hair and asked if he could determine what was wrong with him. Grandpa Andrus wrote back and stated, “My God Man!, you are going to have a baby!”

He predicted the day and time of his death and missed it by only one hour. He liked bouquets of skunk cabbage and had bouquets in his room at his final illness. Submitted by Benjamin Kinsey