Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/376

 LAWRENCE

LAWRENCE

N, Soldiers and Sailors," but in the election his name with two others in the class did not re- ceive a single vote. He died at sea, on board the Chesapeake, June 6, 1813.

LAWRENCE, John, senator, was born in Cornwall, England, in 1750. He immigrated to America, in 1767, and was admitted to the New York bar in 1773. His name appears as Lau- rance, Lawrance and Lawrence, the last being the spelling in the records of Columbia college. He was commissioned in the 1st New York regi- ment in 1775, serving as aide-de-camp to Col. Alexander McDougall, and on Oct. 6, 1776, was appointed aide-de-camp to General Washington. In October, 1777, he was made judge-advocate general, which made him president of the court that tried and condemned Maj. John Andre. After peace was declared he practised law in New York city. He was a delegate to the Con- tinental congress, 1785-87, where he advocated the adoption of the Federal constitution ; was state senator, 1787-89, and a representative in the 1st and 2d congresses, 1789-93. He was appointed by President Washington the first of the judges for tiie U.S. district court, and served, 1794-95 ; was U.S. senator from New York, 1796-1799, serv- ing out part of the term of Rufus King, who re- signed in 1796 to become U.S. minister to Eng- land, and he resigned the seat in 1799 and was succeeded by John Armstrong. He served as president 2^^"o tempore of the senate from Dec. 6, 1798, to March, 1799. He was one of the govern- ors of the College of the Province of New York, known as King's college, 1774-84 ; one of the regents of the university under the charter of Nov. 26, 1784, and a trustee of Columbia college under the charter of April 13, 1784, 1784-1810. He was married in 1775 to Elizabeth, daughter of Col. Alexander McDougall ; and secondly in 1791 to Elizabeth Livingston, widow of James Allen of Philadelphia, Pa. He died in New York city in November, 1810.

LAWRENCE, Joseph, representative, was born in Adams county. Pa., in 1788 ; son of John and Sarah (Moffitt) Lawrence. His father died and his mother with three sons and six daugh- ters removed to a farm eight miles east of Wash- ington, in Washington county. Pa., in 1791. Joseph received a limited education, and worked on the farm. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1818-24, and speaker for two sessions ; and a representative in the 19th and 20th congresses, 1825-29, where he supported the policy of Henry Clay, and the candidacy of John Quincy Adams for President. He was again a representative in the state legislature, 1834-36 ; state treasurer in 1837 ; and a representative in the 27th congress, 1841-42, not living to serve out bis term. He was twice married : first in 1814 to

Rebecca Van Eman, who died in 1822 ; and sec- ondly, in 1826, to Maria Bucher of Harrisburg, Pa. William Caldwell Anderson Lawrence (1833-1860), and Samuel Lawrence, both repre- sentatives in the Pennsylvania legislature, were sons by his second wife. He was summoned from Washington, in 1843, to the death-bed of a son and a daughter, and while there con- tracted the disease that resulted in his death in Washington, D.C., April 17, 1842.

LAWRENCE, Samuel, soldier, was born in Groton, Mass., April 24, 1759 ; son of Capt. Amos and Abigail (Abbott) Lawrence. He was a coi*- poral in a company of minute men, and on April 19, 1775, Colonel Prescott, a neighbor, came rapidly toward the house, and cried out," Samuel, notify your men, the British are coming ! " Cor- poral Lawrence at once mounted the colonels horse and aroused the minute men of his circuit of seven miles. In three hours the company was ready to march, and on April 20th reached Cam- bridge. Lawrence was promoted to the rank of major, and participated in the battle of Bunker Hill and in many other important battles of the Revolutionary war. He served for two years near Boston and New York, and in 1777 he ob- tained a leave of absence and was married, July 22, 1777, to Susanna, daughter of Dr. William and Susanna (Adams) Parker of Groton. While the ceremony was in progress, the tolling of tlie village bell called the minute men to their i^osts, and within the liour Major Lawrence left his bride and joined his regiment at Cambridge He retired fi-om the army in the autumn of 1778, and settled in the homestead at Groton. He was a justice of the peace, and one of the originators and founders of Groton academy. His five sons, Amos, Abbott, Luther, AVilliam, and SamueL rose to positions of responsibility in business, so> that a manufacturing town on the banks of the Merrimac, below Lowell, was given the name of Lawrence. He died in Groton, Mass., Nov. 8, 1827.

LAWRENCE, Samuel Crocker, business man,^ was born in Medford, Mass., Nov. 22, 1833; son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Crocker) Lawrence ;, grandson of Lemuel and Mercy (Perham) Law- rence of Tyngsborough, Mass., and a descendant of John Lawrence who came from Wisset, in Suffolk, England, and settled in Watertown, Mass., in 1635. He attended Lawrence acad- emy at Groton, and was graduated from Harvard with honors, A.B., 1855, A.M., 1858. He engaged in the banking business in Chicago, 111., 1856-57, and in business in Medford with his father and brotlier imder the firm name of Daniel Lawrence & Sons. 1858-67, becoming the sole proprietor in 1867. He also engaged in railroad enterprises and in the management of important trusts. In 1875. when the Eastern railroad company was on