Andrew Carothers: A Life Well Lived

Andrew Carothers’ was a native of Cumberland County. He was born in 1778 in Silver Spring Township to John and Mary Carothers.¹ His father, John Carothers, served as a County Lieutenant during the Revolutionary War.² Andrew Carothers was educated in the county schools but apprenticed in the trade of cabinet making and intended to have that be his profession.³ However, fate, or rather Sarah Clarke, had other plans.

In early 1798, Sarah Clarke was attempting to poison Ann Carothers, sister of Andrew and daughter of John and Mary, but she was unsuccessful. Instead, Sarah Clarke murdered John and Mary, and severely weakened Andrew, by putting arsenic in their bread ingredients. John died in February, while Mary lived until June. Ann, the intended target due to Sarah Clarke’s jealousy that Ann was receiving attention from a suitor that she herself fancied, received only a small dose, and made a quick recovery.⁴ Andrew Carothers was sick for months afterwards, as it was still unclear if he would survive by the summer of 1798. Andrew did survive, but the poison had crippled his arms and hands to such an extent that working as a cabinet maker was no longer feasible.⁵

Once recovered from the poisoning, Andrew Carothers chose to focus on the law. His father had been an esquire, and Andrew entered the law office of David Watts in Carlisle. After three years of study, he was admitted to the bar in 1805. He opened his own office in Carlisle, where he remained for the rest of his life. He became a man of prominence and trained other men as lawyers from his Carlisle law office.⁶ In 1812, he married Catherine Loudon,⁷ and they had three sons, John, Matthew, and James.⁸ After Catherine’s death in 1820,⁹ Andrew married his second wife Isabella, who survived him after his death in 1836.¹⁰