Andress Floyd

Andress Small Floyd was an American philanthropist and writer born in Maine in 1873. He is remembered most for founding the Self-Master Colony in Union County, New Jersey, a project created to shelter and support homeless men.

His book My Monks of Vagabondia stands out because it grew directly from that experience. Rather than writing from a distance, Floyd wrote about men he lived and worked alongside, giving the book a personal, compassionate point of view.

Floyd died in 1933, but his work still offers a vivid glimpse of an era before modern social services, and of one man’s effort to answer hardship with practical help and respect.