Lorin Andrews

Lorin Andrews (April 1, 1819 – September 26, 1861) was an educator and school reformer in Ohio. He co-founded the Ohio Teachers Association in 1848 and he was the president of Kenyon College from 1853-1861. He left the position to serve in the American Civil War, and died of typhus contracted in camp.

Early life Andrews was born on April 1, 1819 to Alanson and Sally Needham Andrews in Ashland, Ohio, then called Uniontown. As a child, he worked on his father's farm and attended common schools. He married Sarah Gates on October 30, 1843, and the couple had three children,

Career Andrews attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio from 1838 to 1840 but had to leave school before graduation because he was unable to pay tuition. Future president Rutherford B. Hayes was a member of that class. During college, he joined the Episcopal church. He was a noted advocate of the 1853 School Law which made many of these reforms including the election of a state school commissioner.

In the early 1850s Andrews was an agent for the Ohio Teachers' Association and he served as the body's president in 1854 and 1855. In late 1853 he was elected president of Kenyon College, which had been going through financial difficulties since the 1840s. He began his duties in 1854, which included holding the title of Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, Political Economy, etc. Also in 1854 he received an honorary LLD from Princeton College. Andrews tenure at Kenyon was very successful and he was offered the presidency of Iowa State, which had formed in 1858, but he turned it down. He was given the rank of colonel and put into command of the 4th Ohio Infantry. Later in the summer he became sick with typhus. He returned to Gambier and died on September 26, 1861. In 1866, a large shaft was erected over his grave at Kenyon College. A junior high school in Massillon, Ohio was named for him in 1923.