NELSON A. ANDREWS was born on September 1, 1896 in Coal Grove, Ohio to Frank and Francis Andrrews. He was named after General Nelson A. Miles and was one of at least 8 children. Nelson Andrews lived with his family in Coal Grove into the 1910s. He may have spent some time in Indianapolis, Indiana during the 1910s, and served in the armed forces during World War I. Nelson Andrews had come to Camden by 1919, where he met Hazel Hill. The young couple fell in love, eloped, and on September 1, 1919 were married at Elkton, Maryland. 

When northern states began to pass more restrictive marriage laws in the early 20th Century, Maryland did not. As a result, a number of Maryland towns near borders with other states became known as places to get married quickly and without many restrictions. Elkton, being the northeasternmost county seat in Maryland (and thus closer to Philadelphia, New York, and New England), was particularly popular. It was a notorious as such for years; in its heyday, in the 1920s and 1930s, it was "the elopement capital of the East Coast" and thousands of marriages were performed there each year.

The census that was taken in January of 1920 shows Nelson and Hazel Andrews living with Hazel's widowed mother, Mrs. Charlotte Hill, at 444 Stevens Street in South Camden. By 1924 he had been appointed to the Camden Fire Department. Nelson and Hazel Andrews remained at 444 Stevens Street into 1927. By that time, Hazel Andrews had begun working as a bookkeeper at the Louis B. Humphreys real estate agency on Market Street.

Nelson Andrews was serving at Ladder Company 4, South 10th Street and Morgan Boulevard on January 1, 1927. On August 1, 1933 he was transferred to Engine Company 2.

Nelson Andrews was a charter member of the Box 315 Association. Organized on January 1, 1928, the Box 315 Association was chartered for the mutual benefit of Camden Firemen, its principal purpose being to fund a commemorative badge for all members of the Department retiring at twenty or more years of service. In the event that an active member died before achieving retirement status, a death benefit in the sum of $20.00 would be paid to the member's estate. Its title, 315, was arbitrarily chosen as the number of the first Box transmitted over the circuits, following the organization's formation. A cabinet of Officers; a By-Laws Committee; Auditing Committee; and a Board of Trustees comprised of one representative from each fire company in the City, were designated by election and appointment.

All active members of the Department were expected to join the organization. An initiation fee of $1.00 and regular dues assessed at ten cents per month, funded operations. Any member of the Department that failed to join the organization within three months after completing his probationary period in the Uniformed Force, was required to pay an initiation fee of $5.00, plus the average of all dues and assessments incurred from the time he was eligible to join. The association met on the first Wednesday of each month.

Charter members of the By-Laws Committee were Chester Andrus, Chairman; Harry Wagner, Henry Zook, Harrison Pike, William Spencer and Nelson Andrews. The association is believed to have actively functioned until sometime during the 1940s.

The 1929 City Directory and the April 1930 Census shows Nelson and Hazel Andrews had bought a home at 802 Morgan Street, where they were living with Hazel's widowed mother, Mrs. Charlotte Hill. It is likely that Nelson Andrews was then serving with with either Engine Company 10 or Ladder Company 4, both quartered a short walk away at 2500 Morgan Boulevard. The Andrews stayed at 802 Morgan Street into 1940. 

By the spring of 1942 Nelson and Hazel Andrews had moved to 3831 Myrtle Avenue in East Camden, and they were still there in 1947. By that time Nelson Andrews had been promoted to Captain in the Camden Fire Department. 

Nelson and Hazel Andrews had moved to 28 Newell Avenue in what was then Delaware Township (present-day Cherry Hill), New Jersey by the fall of 1956. As residency restrictions were still in place, he may have retired from the Camden Fire Department by this time. He remained a resident of Cherry Hill until his passing, on April 30, 1985.