The names Andrews and Spicer are synonymous with mission in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. These photographs and documents, part of a collection at the Andrews University Center for Adventist Research,* offer a glimpse into their lives and contributions to Adventist mission. The collection was donated by Jeanne Andrews-Willumson, the great-granddaughter of John Nevins Andrews.

John Nevins Andrews (1829–1883) with his wife, Angeline (1824–1872)

Elder John Nevins Andrews was the first official Seventh-day Adventist missionary to serve outside North America. His wife, Angeline, whom he married October 29, 1856, died of a stroke two years before John and their children, sailed to Switzerland in 1874. John labored to establish the church in Europe until his death from tuberculosis in 1883.

Charles Melville Andrews (1857–1927)

Charles was 16 when he went to Switzerland and proved a useful worker in the publishing venture in Europe. After his father’s death, he returned to the United States and married Swiss Adventist Marie Ann Dietschy. He worked at the Review and Herald Publishing Association in Washington, DC, until his retirement.

The photo below is thought to be Charles and Marie Andrews’ wedding picture.

Mary Francis Andrews (1861–1878)

Mary was 12 when she sailed for Switzerland with her father. There she filled the role of a homemaker and helped him produce the French publication Les Signes des Temps. She was 17 when she died of tuberculous at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. 

Carrie Matilda Andrews (1864–1865)

Carrie was the youngest child of John and Angeline Andrews. She was born August 9, 1864, and died in September the next year from dysentery.

The letter to the right, written September 26, 1874, by John N. Andrews to his mother, Sarah Andrews, was mailed from Liverpool, England. He writes, “We have this hour stepped on the shores of England. God has brought us hither in safety.”

To aid in learning the local language, the Andrews family on Christmas Eve, 1876, created and signed this covenant to communicate only in French except for one hour during supper.

John Andrews wrote the letter below to his children on July 22, 1878, just after his 50th birthday. In it, he talks about where he is in life and about his wife, Angeline, and offers fatherly advice. He writes, “Our family circle has been cruelly broken up by death but we know that those who sleep are safe and if we are faithful to God we shall meet them again and never be separated any more. We shall live to all eternity in the society of dear mother.”

This letter from John Andrews to his brother-in-law and Review and Herald editor, Uriah Smith, was written on April 24, 1883. John acknowledges that his life is ending and asks Uriah to limit the amount of space in the magazine taken by his obituary. He writes, “I make this request because I fear that your kind regard for me will constrain you to say what I do not merit and what ought not to be said. My best acts have had some trace of selfishness in them or have been lacking in love toward God and man. I beseech you therefore by all the affection which you bear me that you will regard this my earnest petition.”

Charles wrote this letter on December 10, 1878, in response to a letter his father had written to him about Mary’s likely death. “The news is just what I have feared for some time past. . . . If she has fallen asleep, I know that she . . . will have part in the first resurrection. It will be but a short time till then.”