“Claude Andre, a young man, and well-to-do farmer, residing near Franklin Furnace, grew weary of this life and suicided last Tuesday. Andre was in good circumstances, and as there was little real cause for the rash act, his sudden taking off created quite a sensation in his neighborhood. The causes that led to his suicide, as learned from a neighbor, are as follows:”
“Andre’s wife1 was a member of the Seven Day Baptists, and this branch of the Christian religion was a distasteful to the husband. According to the doctrines of the church, the members observe Saturday, and work on Sunday. Mrs. Andre would not work on Saturday, while Andre would not work on Sunday, hence there was a conflict over their religious beliefs, and also over the days that should be set apart for rest. Andre told his wife she would either have to abandon her religion or pack her trunk and leave. It seems that Mrs. Andre was the owner of the farm, and informed her husband that if anybody left the domestic domicile, he would be the one.”
“The matter was allowed to temporarily rest for a few days. Tuesday, Mrs. Andre prepared dinner, and calling her husband, failed to get an answer. She went to the barn to ascertain the cause of the delay, and found her husband hanging lifeless to a rope.”
“Both sides of the family are well connected, and have numerous relatives residing in that locality. With the exception of their religious disagreement, the husband and wife are said to have lived together happily.”
“Suicide seems to have been a mania in the Andre family, and about twenty-three years ago the father2 killed himself. In either case the causes that led to the sudden plunging into eternity were not of a very grave nature.”3
The Grave of Claude Andre at Old Wheelersburg Cemetery in Scioto County, Ohio
- Mary Jane Lamb Andre
- Jacob Andre
- Claude Andre, a Green Township farmer, commits suicide. (1880, October 30). Portsmouth Times, p. 3.
