When James Andrews was born in 1817, in Bruton, Somerset, England, United Kingdom, his father, Henry Andrews, was 29 and his mother, Susannah Smithwick, was 37. He married Mary Higgins in 1838, in Wellington, Somerset, England, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 3 daughters. He died on 29 October 1906, in Croydon Park, New South Wales, Australia, at the age of 89, and was buried in Enfield, New South Wales, Australia.