Researcher: Adele Healy, Stuyvesant '26

Ena Woodbridge Ferwerda was born on July 10th, 1906 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her father, Floris Thomas Ferwerda was born in Holland (now known as the Netherlands) and her mother, Mary Elizabeth “May” Woodbridge, was born in the US. Her mother passed away when she was four on April 11, 1911 so she and her younger sister, Carol, went to live with their grandmother and aunt. Her aunt was very wealthy and supported her financially well into her twenties. Her father was a Lutheran minister and strictly religious while her mother’s side of the family was Jewish. In the early 19th century over a million Jews immigrated to America in hopes of escaping persecution in Eastern Europe and finding greater religious freedom in the U.S. At this time nearly half of the country’s Jews lived in NYC and Jewish communities emerged in places like New Brunswick.

She attended Dwight School for Girls (now the Dwight-Englewood School) and graduated in 1924. She was involved in school athletics and vice-president of the senior class. She graduated from Vassar College in 1928. During this time she frequently published personal statements in the social section of the newspaper informing friends and family of what events were occurring in her life. This was common among the upper classes and typically included announcements such as graduations, weddings, and sporting events. Through these statements we know that she competed in numerous regattas while in college. She was also part of the school’s hockey team and extremely involved in athletics.

After college she worked as a bacteriologist at Lederle Labs, Pearl River, NY. In her mid-twenties Ferwerda quit her job and went to live in an artists colony in Woodstock, NY where she worked as a waitress. This awakened her to the world beyond her wealthy upbringing and she hitchhiked around the country for a few months. Eventually her aunt persuaded her to come back home. During the year she was away she was exposed to the struggles of the lower class which seems to have been the trigger for her political involvement.

She was not interested in being a bacteriologist and decided to switch to nursing. In 1934 she started her nursing training at Columbia Presbyterian hospital but after sharing her stories about life in other parts of the country she was asked to leave during her second year. She transferred to Bellevue Nursing school where she finished her degree. While there she found out about what was happening in Spain through a friend. She was affiliated with the Communist Party at least by 1936 and through the party she managed to get a passport. She was living at 64th E 90th Street, NYC at the time she left for Spain and identified herself as having no religion, a clear break from her family’s beliefs. She sailed to Paris in April of 1937 on the Ile de France and then traveled by ambulance across the border to Spain. She was part of the 5th American Medical Unit in the American Medical Bureau. She arrived in Spain on May 16, 1937 and worked in Belacazar until September of 1937 as a nurse. She became ill and was sent to Albacete to recover. In October of 1937 she was sent to work in Murcia. The hospital at Murcia was international with few American nurses. As most of Murcia was fascist she most likely had to treat fascist patients. Given Ferwerda’s strong political views this must not have been an easy task. She got ill again and was sent home. She returned from Spain on February 9, 1938 on the Ile de France. After going to Spain she worked at the Bleeker Street Infectious Disease Hospital in New York City.

She married Lester Andry after the war on February 10, 1940 in Wappingers Falls, New York. He had been a volunteer American soldier during the Spanish Civil War and was injured at the battle of Jarama on February 19th, 1937. Their common political engagement and fight against fascism may have led to their initial meeting and connection to each other.

In 1954 she was suspended from her job at a Veterans Hospital in Maine for eight months because of her connections to the Spanish Civil War. Lots of Americans faced repercussions and backlash afterwards because their fight for the Republican government was seen as a fight for Communism since Stalin had been in support of the Republic. The backlash became even more significant during the Red Scare of the 1950s in which panic over left-wing ideologies led to the political persecution of people affiliated with the Communist Party. There was mass surveillance by the F.B.I on people who had participated in the Spanish Civil War and many lost their jobs or couldn’t get jobs. Ferwerda and her husband appealed to a hearing board and the hospital’s lawyer presented a picture of her in the Daily Worker, a far left newspaper in the 20th century that was frequently dominated by the Communist Party. She was accused of being a member of an illegal organization and going to Spain illegally. After presenting her passport that was stamped “Valid for Spain” and signed by the Secretary of State of the USA the case was cleared and she was reinstated in her position.

Ferwerda and her husband had a difficult life because of their participation in the war; Ferwerda’s relatives turned against her, they struggled to get jobs, and had financial difficulties. They moved all around the country before settling in Hollywood, Florida at 1724 Johnson St. In 1960 Ferwerda had a mastectomy for cancer and in 1967 the cancer came back. In 1969, Fredericka Martin, who was contacting nurses that had been part of the American Medical Bureau for a book, reached out to her. The two of them corresponded for two years as Ferwerda’s cancer got worse until she passed away on December 16th, 1971. During their correspondence she said that she had no regrets about going to Spain, only that she disliked how the government responded to it. She lived her life with her political and moral beliefs first and was a strong-willed.

Sources

“Ferwerda, Ena (Andry)” Tamiment Library and Wagner Labor Archives, Frances Patai Papers, Series I: Biographical Files, Box 1, Folder 14.

“Ferwerda, Ena.” The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, May 13, 2026. https://alba-valb.org/volunteers/ena-ferwerda/

“New York State, Marriage Index, 1881-1967.” Ancestry.com. Accessed June 1, 2026. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61632/records/6114205?tid=&pid=&queryId=941e0822-7eff-4668-acaf-79143bb10f94&_phsrc=bLI12&_phstart=successSource

“New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957.” Ancestry.com. Accessed June 1, 2026. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7488/records/23916553?tid=&pid=&queryId=941e0822-7eff-4668-acaf-79143bb10f94&_phsrc=bLI12&_phstart=successSource

“United States: Ferwerda, Ena.” Tamiment Library and Wagner Labor Archives, Fredericka Martin Papers, Series I: Medical Personnel: Biographical Files and Correspondence, Box 7, Folder 22. 1937.

Vassar College Hockey Team. Photograph. Poughkeepsie, NY, 1925. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/40807_520307001_0304-00162?rc=&queryId=779e5aac-1b2e-428e-ace7-e56b9484e58e&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=981310092

“1920 United States Federal Census.” Ancestry.com. Accessed June 1, 2026. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061/records/81386863