Henry Andrus was born in Harlem Township, Winnebago County, Illinois, on November 4, 1844.
He continued to work the farm through his early adulthood until he was twenty-one, when he moved to Pecatonica, Illinois.
During his first legislative tenure, he pushed for the passage of an act to appropriate a board of supervisors to build Memorial Hall in Rockford.
[1] The Republican Party did not support Andrus in 1904, instead running Andrew J. Anderson as their candidate.
Andrus was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America, and was a 32nd degree Mason.