A copy of this autobiography of my Great Grandfather was given to me years ago.  I wanted to make it more widely available.  I will insert clarification or other information in brackets []. I have attached the handwritten copy so you can see his handwriting.

The Life Story of William Fredrick Andra Sr
I was born on February 11, 1898 in Meissen, Saxony, Germany to Wilhimina [Wilhelmina Christiana Knauke] and Theodor F. [Fredrick] Andra.  My father died when I was about four years old [23 November 1902].

I was baptized in the Elbe River in [16] April 1909; came to the United States in the following month of May.  I left at the age of eleven, one year ahead of the rest of the family.

The following year they were ready to come to the U.S. on the same boat but were, for some reason, delayed a month.  The boat that they had intended on traveling on sank in the mid ocean.  “The Lord moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform!”

Upon arriving here, I went to Fairview, Utah to work out my board and room from John R. Anderson, who was a former missionary in Germany.

After being in Fairview one year, I went back to Salt Lake to meet the rest of the family when they arrived.

We had quit a struggle at first, but we made out when the rest had learned the language.

I used to deliver papers, work at the slaughter house to obtain different kinds of meats to help support the family, and did all other types of odd jobs.

At the age of fourteen, my Mother took me to Preston, Idaho to the home of a former missionary [George Wanner] that helped convert my mother in Germany.

I thinned, hoed and topped beets; worked in the potatoes; and did many other things around the farm.  There were about 24 head of cows to be milked.  For my work, I got $18.00 a month.  The next summer I got $25.00 and then $30.00 per month.

In the winter I went back to Salt Lake City because there wasn’t any work left on the farm.

I worked in the Apex Mine in Bingham at the same time that Jack Dempsey was a diamond drill sharpener.

The next winter I worked in the coal mine at Wattis in Carbon County during the flu epidemic in 1918.  My future father-in-law [George Wanner] took the flu and was in the hospital in Salt Lake City.  Shortly after his boy, Golden, also caught the flu and died.  I took the body home to Whitney, Idaho on the train.

I did the chores for the family because they all had the flu.  After working for George Wanner, 7 year on and off, I married at the age of 22 to his daughter, Mary Louise Wanner, in the Salt Lake Temple on March 10, 1920.

At a time when things were tough, I worked on the farm for James R. Bodily and in the winter I did janitor work at the Whitney School and meeting house for $30.00 a month.  Then our son, William Junior was born.  During this time I helped build the sugar factory in Whitney.

In 1922 we moved to Salt Lake City and I worked for the Royal Bakery for one year, then we moved back to Preston and went into the café business with my brother, Walter.  We stayed in the café business until the end of 1925, then we bought the Wanner farm in Preston during the depression times.

I used to dig basements, haul gravel and sand, haul sugar beets from the beet piles to the sugar factory for $4.00 a ton.  It was hard making this $1000.00 principle and $500.00 interest but with the Lord’s help and a good wife and children, we paid for the farm.  In 1937 we bought 9 more acres on the east side of our farm, making 44 acres.

In 1937, I was made a High Priest.  I have been a ward teacher for 36 years, ward teaching supervisor for 7 years, and a group leader for the High Priests Quorum for 12 years.

I am, at present, a director of the Mink Creek-Riverdale Canal Company.

Our main crops on this farm have been sugar beets and potatoes.  We have raised peas and corn for many years.

Our present family consists of 12 children, 8 boys and 4 girls (of which 2 of the boys have passed on).

In 1947, I had a back fusion operation.  It was very successful.

Seven of our children are married from which we have received 28 grand children and 2 great grand children.  One of our boys is in the Western States Mission now.  We have had 2 on missions previously.

I would like to pass this biography on to my son.

Prepared and arranged November 28, 1961
by William F. Andra, Sr. (Age 63)
— AUTOBIOGRAPHY —

Continued details: See life story of Mary Louise Wanner Andra

The principle factors that determined the success of William F. Andra and his wife, Mary Louise Wanner Andra, were ambition and religion.  Always fight for the good!