Women Who Ran: Nancy L. Andrus

About Nancy L. Andrus (1850–1939)

On September 7, 1891, Nancy L. Andrus was elected to the Grand Rapids Board of Education by supporters in the Ninth Ward who believed “in the usefulness of women on the board of education.” Andrus must have proved her worth, for she was reelected in 1893 and again in 1895. In 1897, however, she lost by a very close margin to Francis J. Bolitho, who had attempted to unseat her in 1895.

Nancy L. Andrus was born on July 3, 1850, in Attica, Lapeer County, Michigan. After she graduated from high school in Grand Rapids, Andrus embarked on a career in teaching. She married Dr. Charles A. Andrus in 1867. And in 1887, she graduated from Toledo Medical College to embark on a new career in medicine, setting up her practice in Grand Rapids. Over the course of her career, Andrus worked as a visiting physician in “midwifery and children’s diseases” at Butterworth Hospital and as an examining physician for several local Maccabee groups. 

Andrus played an active role in local and state medical organizations. She was a member of the Michigan State Medical Association and the Grand Rapids Academy of Medicine. And her 1899 article “Monstrosities and Malformations: Are They of Importance to the General Practitioner” appeared in the medical journal The Physician and Surgeon and was also read before the Grand Rapids Academy of Medicine.  

But Andrus’s interests were not exclusive to medicine. A supporter of women’s suffrage, she was a member of the Grand Rapids Political Equality Club, where she spoke in 1892 “of the effect hospital work had had in opening the doors of medical colleges for women.” In 1893, she was elected an officer of a newly formed charity for neglected and dependent children. And in 1896, she served as the first president of the Grand Rapids Political Equity Club, where she spearheaded the club’s advocacy work on behalf of women’s rights. In 1899, she was elected to the board of directors of the Grand Rapids Federation of Women’s Clubs. And in 1901 she served as an officer for the Grand Rapids Kindergarten Association. 

In August of 1901, Andrus and her husband moved to California, where she qualified for a state medical license. The following year her husband died, leaving Andrus a widow. She remained in California and appears in physician directories there as late as 1917. On October 17, 1939, Andrus died at the age of 89, having lived a pathbreaking life as a physician, suffragist, local politician, reformer, and clubwoman.