{"person":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"1008"},"lastName":{"label":"Last Name","value":"Andrews"},"endDate":{"label":"Death Date","value":"1925"},"displayName":{"label":"Name","value":"Captain Robert Andrews"},"nameTitle":{"label":"Title","value":"Captain"},"objects":{"label":"Objects","value":{"objectTitle":"Long-Billed Curlew","objectNumber":"1969.1.100","objectID":"1921"}},"geographyDied":{"label":"Died","value":"Smith Island"},"geographyActive":{"label":"Active","value":"Smith Island"},"geographyBorn":{"label":"Born","value":"Smith Island"},"beginDate":{"label":"Birth Date","value":"1863"},"firstName":{"label":"First Name","value":"Robert"},"textEntries":{"label":"Text Entries","value":["Alma Fitchett and John Downes worked with Captain Robert Andrews as part of the Smith Island Life Saving Station crew. Together, the three men created a rig of shorebirds to use while at the station. Fitchett carved the eyes of his decoys and identified each lure with\u201d \u201c(Fleckenstein, Southern 9). Downes\u2019 decoys feature a two-piece hollow construction with an attached head. To identify his lures, Downes carved an \u201cH\u201d on the bottom (Fleckenstein, Southern 9). Both Fitchett and Downes returned to the mainland, the former to become a storekeeper and the latter to become a painter. from https://wardfdn.org/artists/alma-fitchett/","from Decoy's & Sporting Art, November 9-10, 2024 from Guyette & Deeter's annual November decoy and sport art auction: \"Born in Cheriton, Virginia, Robert began working as early as age 13, listed along with his brothers as a \"laborer\" (presumably on the family farm) while his father, William, worked as a mariner. When he was 22, he married Amanda Mckunn and together they raised their son, Garland. He worked briefly as a \"sailor\" and this experience would serve him well when, around the late 1880s, he became a turfman at the Smith Island Life Saving Station. It was here, in about 1897, that he served with and collaborated with John Henry Downes and Alma Fitchett. By 1900, he was back in Capebille working as a sailor and \"watchman/oysterer\" until finally taking up house painting in the 1920s. While known for his shorebirds, he also carved a number of black ducks and brant. There is not record that he ever made decoys to sell so we have to assume that he carved solely for is own use and thus, his production must have been quite small.  Note: His gravestone records his DOB as 1863 however all other census, marriage, birth, and death records list his DOB as variously 1855, 56, 57.\""]},"primaryMedia":{"value":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/545/full"},"names":{"label":"Names","value":"Captain Robert Andrews"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"(1863\u20131925)"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"151157"}}]}