The following is from Fruits of America.
The Andrews is, unquestionably, one of the finest American pears yet produced. … The history of the Andrews, though tolerably well authenticated, is however, to be received with some doubt. The first account of it was published in the N. E. Farmer, by Mr. Samuel Downer, who introduced it to the notice of cultivators soon after the organization of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1829. Mr. Downer states that it originated in Dorchester, and that the original tree was purchase about sixty years ago by Mr. John Andrews, of Boston, who removed it to his garden in Court Street.
The only doubt respecting its origin … is that in Somerville, Mass, there is now growing, in full vigor, and bearing a large annual crop, a fine large tree of the Andrews. Where the scions came from is unknown; the only information the present owner of the tree can give, is, that his father grafted it when he was a little boy, upwards of sixty years ago. As the age of this tree is as great as that claimed for the one purchase by Mr. Andrews, it remains a question whether the latter was the original one, or whether it was grafted from same unknown source from which the one in Somerville was obtained.
Source:
Hovey, Charles Mason. The Fruits of America. (Boston: , 1847-1854), vol 2., 97.