Frank Andrews (June 15, 1864 – December 7, 1936) was the assistant
attorney general of Texas
The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer of the from 1891 to 1895.
Early life
Frank Andrews was born on June 15, 1864, in
Fayetteville, Texas
Fayetteville is a city in Fayette County, Texas, United States. The population was 246 at the 2020 census.
History
The town is located in an area that was originally granted to Alex Thompson and George Cumberland. Fayetteville's first immigra ...
, to Martha (née Sellers) and G. L. Andrews. His father was a Baptist minister. Andrews attended public schools and graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
from
Southwestern University
Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwester ...
in 1885. He then taught school for two years while studying law at night. He was admitted to the bar in 1887.
Career
Andrews began practicing law in Belton. He was appointed assistant
attorney general of Texas
The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer of the by attorney general
Charles A. Culberson
Charles Allen Culberson (June 10, 1855 – March 19, 1925) was an American political figure and Democrat who served as the 21st governor of Texas from 1895 to 1899, and as a United States senator from Texas from 1899 to 1923.
According to one ...
. He held the position from January 15, 1891, to his resignation in 1895. During his tenure, he represented the
Gulf Coast Lines
The Gulf Coast Lines was the name of a railroad system comprising three principal railroads, as well as some smaller ones, that stretched from New Orleans, Louisiana, via Baton Rouge and Houston to Brownsville, Texas. Originally chartered as sub ...
Bankers Trust Company
Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpo ...
and
Union National Bank
Union National Bank (UNB) was a bank based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from 1982 until it merged with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in 2019. The bank had its shares listed in the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) under the symbol UNB.
It ...
, opened the
Union Station
A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...
in Houston, served as draft board chairman during World War I, won the first $2 million judgement in Texas in a receivership case, represented the Federal National Mortgage Corporation and Reconstruction Finance Corporation as part of FDR's
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
. He was a member of the law firm Andrews, Kelley, Kurth and Campbell (later
Andrews Kurth
Andrews Kurth Kenyon LLP was a Houston, Texas based international law firm founded by Frank Andrews and U.S. Congressman Thomas Henry Ball in 1902, and later joined by Melvin Kurth in 1913. In April 2018, the firm merged with Hunton & Williams ...
).
Thomas H. Ball
Thomas Henry Ball (January 14, 1859 – May 7, 1944) was a Texas politician and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives. He was mayor of Huntsville, Texas, from 1877 to 1892, and moved to Houston in 1902.
Thomas Henry B ...
, Sam Streetman, John Logue and John A. Mobley were members of his law firm. He was also associated with Melvin Kurth and Robert Kelly. He did work for the
St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway
Chartered on June 6, 1903, the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway (also known as the ''Brownie'') was a 200-mile (321 km) U.S. railroad that operated from Brownsville, Texas, to Gulf Coast Junction in Houston, Texas. It served numerous t ...
. He was a receiver for the railroad from 1916 to 1918 and afterward helped with the policy of the railroad. He was known for advising
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...
to send workers to South America.
Andrews served as the chairman of the Democratic executive committee from 1904 to 1906. He declined appointment to the Supreme Court of Texas in 1918.
Personal life
Andrews married Roxalee Smith, daughter of Baylor professor James L. Smith, of Salado on December 22, 1891. They had two sons, Edward and Forrest Lee.
Andrews died on December 7, 1936, at his home in Houston. He was buried in Glenwood Cemetery.