Polk Co. IAGenWeb

ANDREWS, WALTER E. - The subject of this brief notice was born in Lowell, Mass., July 24, 1849. After the usual course of primary instruction in the common school, he finished his school education at Barre University, Vermont. Like thousands of other energetic and aspiring young men of New England, he early resolved to seek some field of usefulness in the great and growing West. Good fortune directed his footsteps to Iowa, where he landed in the spring of 1870, not yet twenty-one years of age. In December, 1872, he came to Des Moines, where he was employed for several months as city editor of the Iowa State Leader, soon purchasing an interest in the same. In the fall of 1876 he disposed of his interest in that paper to engage in the enterprise of which he has since been the business head. As manager of the Iowa Printing Company (now Western Newspaper Union) he has contributed largely in giving to the capital city of Iowa one of its most successful business enterprises. Mr. Andrews was united in marriage to Miss Bessie Towne, daughter of J. J. Towne, of Des Moines, February 6, 1877. The worthy young couple are now the happy parents of two daughters: Rose and Esther.