Andrus is an example of a Gallicized Scottish surname, Andrews, belonging to an early Anglo-American family in southwest Louisiana. About 1780, Benjamin Andrews, his wife Mary Hargrove, and several of their children migrated, apparently overland, from South Carolina to Louisiana.* They were among several Americans of the Protestant faith, such as the Hayes, Clark, Collins, and Gilchrist families, who arrived in southern Louisiana during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, eventually mixing with the predominant French Population. The progenitor of most of the Andrus families in Louisiana today, Benjamin, and his children first settled along Bayou Plaquemine Brulée, southwest of Opelousas Post, probably near present Church Point in what is now Acadia Parish.

On arrival in Louisiana the Andrews family included at least five sons, four of whom married Anglo-American women: James (m. ca. 1780 Louise Hayes), Joseph (m.

1782 Marie Hayes), Benjamin, Jr. (m. ca. 1788 Martha Hayes), Solomon (m. ca. 1788 Rachal Garrett, ca. 1793 Sarah Clark);3 a fifth son, John-the first of the Andrus tribe to take a French wife—married Anastasie Savoie of Opelousas in 1793, after his conversion to the Catholic faith.

Not surprisingly, the early Anglo-Americans in Louisiana appear to have taken much longer-perhaps two or three generations-to adopt French language and customs, than did other ethnic groups, such as the Spanish immigrants who came in the 1780s.

Having settled within the prairies of southwestern Louisiana, the Andrews became cattle ranchers, like most of their Anglo compatriots and many of their French neighbors.

By 1788, Benjamin, Sr., had acquired 66 cattle and 20 horses; his sons, a total of 175 cattle and 24 horses.

Likely, their herds increased in size with time.

Although most of the Andrus families remained in the Plaquemine Brulée and adjacent areas for many generations, by the 1790s Solomon had moved southward to the Attakapas, where he obtained land near Grande Côte, between St. Martinville and present Lafayette.

Many of his descendants still reside in that area. Some ofthe other sons of Benjamin, Sr., such as Joseph, engaged in raising livestock as far west as Bayou Cannes, probably near the present community of Evangeline (western Acadia Parish), where in 1798 he had a vacherie of some 1000 acres.

About the same time James, Joseph, and Benjamin, Jr., claimed land on the west bank of Bayou Nezpique, north of present Jennings in what was then the eastern part of Calcasieu country;8 and before 1850 several Andrus families were living west of the Mermentau River between present Jennings and Lake Arthur.

Again, William Andrus, son of Benjamin, Jr., in 1815 was farming on the Calcasieu River, six miles above the present site of Lake Charles.

Thus, members of the Andrus family, like other Anglo-Americans of the time, were among the first pioneers to begin the development of the Calcasieu area. Migration of the Andrus clan continued from Calcasieu into southeastern Texas, one family residing in Beaumont as early as the 1880s. Today more than a fourth of the Andrus households descended from the early Louisianians are found in southeastern Texas, mainly in Houston and Beaumont, probably attracted there by opportunities in industry during the past 50 years. However, 40 percent of the Andrus families are still found in the areas of old St. Landry and Lafayette parishes where Benjamin Andrews and his sons settled in the eighteenth century