Andrews Family at the Oysterville Store

Yesterday at the Oysterville Store it was “old home week” for an hour or so.  One branch of the Andrews family met another branch for the first time ever and I’m happy to report that I was instrumental in getting them together.

Bert and Minnie Andrews, of course, were the ones who built the present Oysterville Store back in 1918.  They were not the first of the family in town, though.  Bert’s grandmother and his uncles Sam and Tom had been here since the turn of the century at least.

Yesterday’s gathering came about because of a phone call I received some months ago from a woman in Aloha, Oregon who identified herself as Donna Godsel.  I can’t remember how she came across my name, but she was interested in getting a specific item from the Oysterville Store – an item that former owners Jean and John Smith carried, but Greg does not.

Amazingly, I was able to help her locate what she wanted, and in the process learned that she was the granddaughter of Sam Andrews who was Bert Andrews’ uncle.  I found that she was very interested in Oysterville history, had been here years before, and was planning to come again in the summer with her brother and her son.  Yesterday turned out to be the day.

I suggested that we meet at the Oysterville Store because Donna was bringing “photographs and postcards” and I knew Greg would be interested.  He is always on the lookout for Oysterville history, especially if it relates to the Andrews and the store.

There were five in ‘their party’ plus Nyel and myself and Greg and customers somewhere in the periphery.  Greg made coffee.  I thought Charlotte Jacobs should be there so Greg made a phone call and went to fetch her.  She is a grandchild of Bert and Minnie but, until yesterday the two family branches had never met and didn’t really know anything about each other.  It was Old Home Week for sure!

Oysterville Sewing Bee, 1907 — “Mary Sam” is lower left with son Vernon

We were there for about an hour, gathered around their photo albums in the ‘back-behind’ of the store.  Greg is a saint!  I don’t know that we were in any way good for business, but he was gracious and interested and asked only that we keep an eye out for photographs that will make good reproductions of historic postcards.  Donna and I concluded that we would have to do this again – perhaps at our house where we could really spread out and compare photos, jot down dates, use the scanner, etc.

Later, as I walked homeward with Charlotte, I had one of those “aha moments.”  Donna’s grandmother, Mary Christenson Andrews (married to Sam Andrews, uncle of Bert, see above) was the woman our family always referred to as “Mary Sam” to distinguish her from another Mary in town.   Donna’s father was Vernon.  My aunt Medora (who was fifteen at the time) referred to them in a diary entry in July 1914:

After lunch I went up to Mary Sam’s and sewed up those two aprons and made some doll clothes for Sue and Mona.  Came back at 2:45 and was glad to get home.  She makes me sick.  I get so tired of having her complain about Edwin doing this or that to Vernon. 

I must remember to point that out to Donna…