Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/674

638 preme bench of the state, and in May, 1786, was appointed chief justice. On the organization of the Federal Union, President Washington in 1789 appointed him U. S. district judge for Connecticut, which office he held till his death. He was also mayor of New London from the adoption of the city charter in 1784. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Yale in 1802. — Richard's son, Lyman, lawyer, b. in New London, Conn., 19 Aug., 1770 ; d. there, 3 Feb., 1842, was graduated at Yale in 1791, studied law with his father, and became an eminent counsellor in New London. He was a member of the Connecticut legislature, chosen speaker for one session, and afterward elected to congress as a Federalist, serving from 4 Nov., 1811, till 3 March, 1817.— Lyman's son, John, jurist, b. in New London, Conn., in 1796; d. in Evansville, Ind., 7 Oct., 1873, was graduated at Yale in 1814, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1817, and the same year emigrated to Indi- ana and began practice at Vincennes. He was elected prosecuting attorney soon after his arrival, and in 1823 was sent to the legislature. He served again as district attorney till 1830, and then for eight years as circuit court judge. In 1838-'42 he was receiver at the land-office in Vincennes. In 1851 he removed to Evansville. In 1855-'7 he served as judge of the court of land-claims, which was created for the adjudication of the claims of the early settlers in Indiana and Illinois. He was elected to congress as a Democrat for two successive terms, serving from 4 July, 1861, till 3 March, 1865. He drew up a bill that was unanimously passed, giving the twelve surviving veterans of the Continental army $100 per annum. He was the attorney of Col. Vigo in his case against the government, involving a claim for supplies that had been furnished to Gen. George R. Clarke in 1779, which was paid in 1877 after the original claimant and his lawyer were both dead. Judge Law was a student of the local history of the west, and before entering congress was long president of the Indiana historical society. He delivered an address at Vincennes in 1839 on the early history of that place, which was published at the time and re-issued in an enlarged form under the title of "Colonial History of Vincennes."

LAWLER, Joab, clergyman and politician, b. in North Carolina, 12 June, 1796: d. in Washington, D. C, 8 May, 1838. He removed to Tennessee with his father, crossed over into Alabama about 1815, and in 1820 settled in Shelby county, where he became judge of the county court, and in 1826-'31 was in the legislature, at the same time officiating as pastor of a Baptist church, having received ordination in 1826. He was elected to the state senate in 1831, but resigned in 1832 in order to accept the appointment of receiver of public moneys for the Coosa land district. While living at Mardisville, Talladega co., where the landoffice was, he founded two churches, and was their pastor until he was elected to congress in August, 1835. He was re-elected in 1837, but died during the first session of that congress.

LAWLER, Michael K., soldier, b. in Illinois about 1820. He raised an independent company of volunteers at Shawneetown, Ill., in August, 1846, and served as its captain during the remainder of the Mexican war. At the beginning of the civil war he joined the Union army, and was commissioned colonel of the 18th Illinois infantry on 20 May, 1861. He was promoted brigadier-general on 14 April, 1863.

LAWRANCE, John, senator, b. in Cornwall, England, in 1750 ; d. in New York city in November, 1810. He came to New York in 1767, and in 1772 was admitted to the bar, where he attained eminence. In 1775 he was appointed to a commission in the 1st New York regiment, of which his father-in-law, Gen. Alexander McDougall, was colonel. He became aide-de-camp to Gen. Washington in October, 1777, and as judge-advocate- general presided at the trial of Maj. John Andre After the war he returned to the practice of the law. In 1785-'7 he was a delegate to congress un- der the confederation, but was superseded in 1788 in consequence of his advocacy of the adoption of the new Federal constitution. In 1789, when he was a member of the state senate, he became the first representative from New York city in the first U. S. congress. He also served in the second, and at its termination in 1794 was the first of the judges that were appointed for the U. S. district court of New York. In 1796 he resigned on being chosen U. S. senator, and served as such until 1800, presiding over the senate in 1798. He was an ardent patriot and the personal friend of Wash- ington and Hamilton. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Gen. Alexander McDougall, in 1775, and Elizabeth Livingston, widow of James Allen, of Philadelphia, in 1791.

LAWRENCE, Amos, merchant, b. in Groton, Mass., 22 April, 1786; d. in Boston, Mass., 31 Dec., 1852. He was the son of Samuel, a Revolutionary officer, and was educated in the Groton academy, which was founded by his father. Amos became a clerk in a country store in Dunstable in 1799, and soon afterward in Groton. In April, 1807, he went to Boston, and, upon the failure of his employers there, began business upon his own account in December, 1807, as a dry-goods merchant. On 1 Jan., 1814, he entered into a partnership with his brother Abbott, who for the previous five years had been his chief clerk, which continued uninterruptedly until the death of Amos. The business operations of the firm were conducted with great success, and both brothers aided in the establishment of manufactures in New England, especially the cotton industry of Lowell, where they established a factory in 1830. After a serious illness in 1831, Amos was compelled to retire from active participation in the affairs of his firm, and devoted the remaining years of his life to acts of beneficence. From 1829 till his death he expended, according to his books, $639,000 for charitable purposes. Among the public objects of his bounty were Williams college, to which he gave nearly $40,000; the academy in Groton, the title of which was changed in 1843 to Lawrence academy, on which he expended at different times $20,000; Wabash college, Kenyon college, the theological seminary at Bangor, Me., and several others. He sent collections of books to many literary institutions and deserving persons. He established and for some time maintained a child's infirmary in Boston, and gave $10,000 for the completion of the monument on Bunker hill. His private benefactions were almost innumerable, and several rooms in his house were used as the receptacles of articles for distribution. At his death his fortune was estimated at $1,000,000. See &ldquo;Extracts from the Diary and Correspondence of the late Amos Lawrence, with a Brief Account of some Incidents in his Life,&rdquo; edited by his son, William R. Lawrence, M. D. (Boston, 1855). &mdash; His brother, Abbott, merchant, b. in Groton, Mass., 16 Dec., 1792; d. in Boston, Mass., 18 Aug., 1855, was bound an apprentice to Amos at the age of fifteen, and in 1814 became one of the firm of A. and A. Lawrence, which for many years conducted a prosperous business in the sale of foreign cotton