Vernon H. Andrus , Acadia Parish, Louisiana
Submitted for the LA GenWeb Archives by Jan Craven.


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Source: History of Louisiana by Henry Chambers. vol 3 p 57.


Vernon H. Andrus, office manager for the large and important gravel pits
operated by J. W. Thompson at Anchorage, West Baton Rouge Parish, maintains
his residence in the neighborhood Village of Sunrise, and Port Allen, judicial
center of the parish, is his postoffice address.

Mr. Andrus was born in Acadia Parish, Louisiana, January 16, 1884, and in that 
parish his father, Henry L. Andrus, was born in the year 1856, he having been
there reared to manhood, and his entire active career having been one of close
association with agricultural industry, of which he is now a successful 
representative at Kaplan, Vermilion Parish.  He is a loyal adherent of he 
democratic party, and is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, as was also his wife, whose death occurred in February, 1924.  Henry L.
Andrus was the son of Mack Andrus, who was born in Acadia Parish in the year
1811 and whose death there occurred in 1896, he having been one of the
substantial farmers of his native parish and having served throughout the
Civil War as a loyal soldier of the Confederacy.   In his native parish Henry
L. Andrus wedded Miss Gertrude E. Lyons, who likewise was born and reared in
Acadia Parish, the date of her birth having been 1858 and her death having
occurred in February, 1924 as previously noted.  Of the children Vernon H., of
this sketch is the eldest; Morris M. resides at Walls, this state, and is a
welder by trade and vocation; Lola is the wife of John W. Wright, who is
manager of the Eunice Rice Mill at Eunice, St. Landry Parish; and Lonney L.
resides in Houston, Texas, he being a bridge foreman for the Southern Pacific
Railroad.

Vernon H. Andrus attended the public schools of his native parish, including
the the high school at Crowley, until he was fourteen years of age, and during
the ensuing year he was variously employed.  From 1899 until 1908 he was in
the  employ of the Wells Fargo Express Company, and within this interval he
had headquarters, for varying periods, at New orleans, Lake Charles, Morgan
City, Alexandria, Lafayette and Crowley in Louisiana and in Houston, Texas. 
In 1908 he entered the employ of J. W. Thompson, a representative St. Louis
capitalist and business man, who maintains offices in New Orleans and other
leading cities, and who owns and operates the large gravel and sand pits at
Anchorage, Louisiana. Mr. Andrus began his service as a clerk in Mr.
Thompson's office in New Orleans, where he remained until 1916, when he was
transferred to service in the material department at Deming, New Mexico. 
There he continued his work until November, 1918, since which time he has been
clerk and office manager at the gravel pits at Anchorage, Louisiana, on the
lines of the Southern Pacific, the Texas Pacific, and the Gulf Coast
Railroads.  Here has been developed a great industrial enterprise, one of the
largest of its kind in the United States, in the handling of sand, washed
gravel, mixed gravel and ballast, the products being shipped to all parts of
Louisiana, as well as into other states.


Mr. Andrus is a democrat of strong loyalty, and his religous faith is that of
the Baptist Church.  he is a careful and energetic business man and a liberal
and progressive citizen who commands unqualified popular esteem.

October 3, 1902, recorded the marriage of Mr. Andrus and Miss Clotilde
Legendre, daughter of Felix and Henrietta (Toups) Legendre, the father having
been at the time of his death a prosperous farmer at Lockport, La Fourche
Parish, where the widowed mother still resides.  Mrs. Andrus completed her
youthful education by attending Sacred Heart College in the City of New
Orleans.  Mr. and Mrs. Andrus have four children: Loretta J., Lucille M.,
Melba M., and Audrey M.  At the time of this writing, in the spring of 1924,
all of the children are attending the public schools of Port Allen, where the
eldest daughter is a student in the high school.

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