Mr. Andres remained on his uncle's farm until he was eighteen, and then worked out by the month in different places, wherever he could secure the best wages. After he had been able to save some money, he went to Beaver Creek, Rock County, Minn., where he rented a half section of land, farming it for three years. In the meantime July 3, 1901, he had been united in marriage with Miss Clara Hoefer, a native of Rock County, Minn., a daughter of Christian and Rosa (Krapf) Hoefer, natives of Wurtemberg, Germany, born near Stuttgart; coming to the United States when young people; they were married at Cedar Falls, Iowa. Afterwards they removed to and were early settlers of Rock County, Minn., where they homesteaded 160 acres on Beaver Creek which they improved and where they raised their family. Mr. Hoefer was prominent in the Evangelical church as class leader and Sunday school superintendent. They moved to Santa Ana in the spring of 1902, where the father died November 17, 1913, while his widow still survives. Their six living children are as follows: Mary, Mrs. August Eikmeier of Pipestone, Minn.; William, an orange grower in Santa Ana; Mrs. Clara Andres; Rose, the wife of Philip Lutz of Santa Ana; Arthur resides at Owensmouth and Helen, Mrs. Steadman, lives in Santa Ana.
Mr. and Mrs. Andres decided to try their fortune in California and in December, 1903, they arrived in Santa Ana. In the spring of 1904 he bought twenty acres on McFadden Street, in the southern outskirts of Santa Ana, part of it being within the corporate limits. It was an alfalfa field, full of gopher holes, but Mr. Andres improved it, building a good house on the west ten acres, which he sold. After building on the east ten acres, he also disposed of this and in the fall of 1912, he purchased his present ranch north of Garden Grove. This consisted of twenty acres, much of which was unusually rough land. Seven acres of it had been planted to eucalyptus trees and these Mr. Andres cut down, pulling out the stumps with a stump puller. There were two deep sloughs across it which he filled up and altogether it was a great undertaking and required a tremendous amount of hard work. Finally, however, he had it leveled up and ready for irrigation. Eight acres were set to walnuts and ten acres to Valencia oranges, all now bearing. He also has two acres in lemons. His walnut orchard is interset with oranges, pears, plums, peaches and apples, and he also grew lima beans in between the rows when the trees were young, thus helping to pay expenses.
Mr. and Mrs. Andres are the parents of two children: Paul A., a graduate of the Santa Ana high school and now at the agricultural department of the University of California at Davis; and Viola E. The family live in their attractive home on North Bush Street, Santa Ana, which Mr. Andres erected in 1915. The family attend the Evangelical Church at Santa Ana and Mr. Andres is chairman of the board of trustees. He is a member of the Garden Grove Citrus Association, the Garden Grove Walnut Growers Association and the Garden Grove Farm Center. In political matters, he is an advocate of the principles of the Republican party. Although he was exposed to many hardships and temptations in his early days, he has risen above them all by his own unaided efforts and now stands in his community as an example of honest, exemplary citizenship.
