Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/380

 LAWSON

LAW TON

cuted for Thomas Dobson, bookseller, established his reputation in America. He engraved plates for Alexander Wilson's work on ornithology and for its continuation by Charles Lucien Bonaparte; for a proposed work on quadrupeds by George Ord ; a work on conchology by Prof. Samuel S. Haldeman, and another on the same subject by Dr. Amos Binney. The drawings for the works on conchology were made by his daughter. John Neagle, the portrait j^ainter, pronounced his en- gravings or birds the best in America. His work also includes plates for illustrating works on chemistry, botany and mineralogy. Among liis engravings are heads and busts of George Wash- ington, Robert Burns, and Mrs. Susannah Poul- son ; Perry'' s Victory on Lake Erie ; MacPlier son's Blues Taking Leave; Election Day in Philadel- phia ; My Uncle Toby and the Widow ; The Painter's Study ; The Raffle ; The Snare ; The Happy Family ; Past, Present arid Future ; Neo- toma Floridana, and The Great American Elk. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 23, 1846.

LAWSON, Leonidas Moreau, physician and educator, was born in Nicholas county, Ky., Sept. 10, 1813 ; son of the Rev, Jeremiah Lawson and a grandson of Gen. Robert Lawson, an offi- cer of the Virginia troops in the Revolutionary war. His father was a Methodist clergyman who went from Virginia to Kentucky and settled in Mason county, and in 1803 removed to Missouri Territory. He was graduated fron Transylvania college in 1837 ; was professor of anatomy and physiology there, 1843-46, and a student and ob- server of medical science in England, France and Germany, 1846-47. He was professor of materia medica and pathology in Ohio Medical college, Cincinnati, 1847-58 ; of the practice of medicine 1852-54 ; professor of the theory and practice of medicine at Kentucky Medical school, Louisville, 1854-57 ; at the Ohio Medical college, 1857-60 ; professor of clinical medicine in the University of Louisiana, New Orleans, 1860-61, and again j^ro- fessor of the theory and practice of medicine at the Ohio Medical college, 1861-64. He established the Western Lancet in 1847, and edited and con- tributed to its columns, 1847-64. He published an edition of Dr. James Hope's "Morbid Ana- tomy" (1844), and is the author of: Fi'actical Treatise on Phthisis Pulmonalis (1861). He died in Cincinnati, Oliio, Jan. 24, 1864.

LAWSON, Oscar A., engraver, was born at Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 7, 1813 ; son of Alexander Lawson (q. v.). He received his art education under his father, and was employed by the U.S. coast survey at Washington, D.C., 1841-51, re- turning to Philadelphia, Pa., in ill-health in 1851. His engravings include : a large number of book plates, and Audrey and Touchstone ; The Indi- gent Family; The Death Scene; Teaching the

Scripture ; Tlie Deatii of Addison ; The Old Sol- dier ; John Anderson My Jo ; Haverford School House. He died in Philadelphia, Sept. 6, 1854. LAWSON, Thomas, surgeon-general, was born in Virginia, Aug. 29, 1789 ; son of Thomas and Sarah (Robinson) Lawson ; grandson of Col. An- thony and Mary (Calvert) Lawson, and of TuUy Robinson ; great-grandson of Thomas and Frances (Sayer) Lawson, and of William Robinson, and a descendant of Thomas Lawson, who settled at an early date in Virginia. He was educated for a physician and surgeon and was commissioned surgeon's mate in the U.S. navy, March 1, 1809, but resigned on being a^jpointed to the U.S. army by President Madison, Feb. 11, 1811. He was transferred to the 7th infantry. May 17, 1815, and was appointed surgeon in the 6th infantry, Sept. 7, 1816, to rank as such from May 21, 1813. He was promoted to the rank of major, June 1, 1821 ; was appointed surgeon-general with the rank of colonel by President Jackson, Feb. 1, 1837, to date from Nov. 30, 1836, and served as lieutenant-colonel of volunteei's in Florida in 1837-38. He was brevetted brigadier- general, March 3, 1849, for distinguished and meritorious services in the field before and during the Mexican war, and ranked as such from May 30, 1848. He was unmarried. He is the author of: Report on Sickness and Mortality, U.S. Army, 1S19-39 (1840); Meteorological Register, 1826-30 (1830); Appendix for 1822-25 (1840). He died at the residence" of Dr. Daniel Carj' Barraud, in Norfolk, Va., May 14, 1861.

LAWSON, Thomas Goodwin, representative, was born in Putnam county, Ga., Maj' 2, 1835; son of Reese and Elizabeth (Keaton) Lawson ; grandson of David and Mary (Reese) Lawson, and a descendant of William Lawson, a Revolu- tionary soldier, whose ancestors came from Eng- land to Vix'ginia in the seventeenth century. He was graduated from Mercer universitj', A.B., 1855, A.M., 1858. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1861-67 ; a member of the state constitutional convention of 1877; judge of the superior court of Ocmulgee circuit, 1879-87, and engaged in farming, 1888-91. He was a Demo- cratic representative from the eighth district of Georgia in the 52d, 53d and 54th congresses, 1891- 97, and was defeated for nomination to the 54th congress because he advocated the gold standard in opposition to the free coinage of silver.

LA WTON, Alexander Robert, diplomatist, was born in St. Peter's parish, Beaufort, S.C., Nov. 4, 1818. He was graduated from the U.S. Military academy in 1839 ; promoted 2d lieutenant in the 1st artillery and served on frontier duty until 1841, when he resigned. He was graduated from the Harvard Law school in 1843, and established him- self in practice at Savannah, Ga., in 1843. He was