Jonathan Lawrence (October 4, 1737 – September 4, 1812) was an American merchant and politician from New York.
Early life
Lawrence was born on October 4, 1737 in Newtown, Queens County in what was then the
Province of New York
The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the U ...
, a part of British America. He was the eighth son born to Patience ( née Sackett) Lawrence (1701–1772) and John Lawrence (1695–1765).
His paternal grandparents were John Lawrence and Deborah (née Woodhull) Lawrence and his maternal grandparents were Capt. Joseph Sackett and Elizabeth (née Betts) Sackett. His family was large and many members were prominent in New York business and politics. His brother Daniel Lawrence was an Assemblyman and his nephew Nathaniel Lawrence (son of Thomas) was
New York State Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...
Richard Riker
Richard Riker (September 9, 1773 – September 26, 1842) was an American lawyer and politician from New York, who served as the first district attorney of what is now New York County, and as recorder of New York City.
Career
Riker studied ...
were his great-nephews.
Career
At a young age, Lawrence became a merchant, visiting Europe and the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
in the employment of his eldest brother, John Lawrence before joining the house of Watson, Murray & Lawrence. After inheriting his brother John's estate and a portion of his brother Nathaniel's estate (who died unmarried in the West Indies), he retired , around age thirty-four, and purchased a residence at Hurlgate which had been owned by his great-grandfather Thomas Lawrence, the youngest of three brothers who emigrated to America around 1645.
Beginning in May 1775 Lawrence was a member of the 1st, 3rd (May to June 1776) and 4th
New York Provincial Congress
The New York Provincial Congress (1775–1777) was a revolutionary provisional government formed by colonists in 1775, during the American Revolution, as a pro-American alternative to the more conservative New York General Assembly, and as a repla ...
es (beginning in July 1776, which became known as the First Constitutional Convention).
Revolutionary War
In 1772, he had been appointed captain in the provincial militia by the royal government. Once the New York Provincial Congress organized a militia in 1775, he was appointed major of the Queens and Suffolk brigade under Gen.
Nathaniel Woodhull
General Nathaniel Woodhull (December 30, 1722 – September 20, 1776) was a leader of the New York Provincial Congress and a brigadier general of the New York Militia during the American Revolution.
Biography
Woodhull was born on December 30, 17 ...
.
In August 1776, on the eve of the
Battle of Long Island
The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New Yor ...
, his militia was sent to drive livestock in an effort to prevent it from falling into British hands. While the activities indirectly claimed the life of Woodhull, he had been ordered to
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...
to seek reinforcements from General
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
.
Lawrence was appointed by Constitutional Convention to represent the Southern District of New York (consisting of Kings, New York,
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
Council of Appointment The Council of Appointment (sometimes also Council of Appointments) was a body of the Government of New York that existed from 1777 to 1822.
History
Under the New York Constitution of 1777, the Council of Appointment consisted of the Governor of N ...
, serving for one year. He was again one of four elected to the Council on July 22, 1782.
He later served as chairman of the city's committee for the reelection of George Clinton as governor (who later became the 4th
Vice President of the United States
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...
under
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
and
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...
).
Personal life
On March 16, 1766, he married Judith
Fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
(1749–1767), the daughter of Nathaniel Fish and Jannetje (née Berrien) Fish (a sister of Judge John Berrien). Jannetje's niece, Elizabeth Berrien, was married to Fish's nephew Nathaniel Lawrence, and was the aunt of John M. Berrien, the
United States Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
under President
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
. Before Judith's death on September 29, 1767, at age seventeen, they were the parents of one son:
* Jonathan Lawrence (1767–1850), a merchant with Lawrence & Whitney who married Elizabeth Rogers.
After his first wife's death in 1767, he married Ruth Riker (1746–1818), a member of the Riker family, for whom Rikers Island is named. Ruth was the daughter of Andrew and Jane Riker. Together, they were the parents of nine children, including:
* Judith Lawrence (1769–1827), who married John Ireland (1749–1836).
* Margaret Lawrence (1771–1851), who died unmarried, aged 81.
* Samuel Lawrence (1773–1837), who married Elizabeth Ireland, and became a
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
.
* Andrew Lawrence (1775–1806), a sailor who died "of the
African fever
Relapsing fever is a vector-borne disease caused by infection with certain bacteria in the genus ''Borrelia'', which is transmitted through the bites of lice or soft-bodied ticks (genus ''Ornithodoros'').
Signs and symptoms
Most people who are ...
, in one of the
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...
islands, near an outlet of that river, which has since been discovered to be the ancient
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages
* Richard M. Lawrence (1778–1856), a merchant who sailed around the world, and upon his return to New York in 1815, became the vice-president of the National Insurance Company and then president of the Union Insurance Company, both in New York.
* Abraham Riker Lawrence (1780–1863), who served as president of the New York and Harlem Railroad in 1836 (after John Mason).
* Joseph Lawrence (1783–1817), who married Mary Sackett, daughter of John Sackett and Elizabeth (née Gibbs) Sackett.
*
John L. Lawrence
John L. Lawrence (October 2, 1785 – July 24, 1849) was an American lawyer, diplomat, and politician from New York.
Early life
John was born in New York City. He was the son of Jonathan Lawrence (1737–1812), a merchant and New York State Se ...
(1785–1849), who married Sarah Augusta Smith (1794–1877), daughter of General John Tangier Smith and granddaughter of Gen.
Nathaniel Woodhull
General Nathaniel Woodhull (December 30, 1722 – September 20, 1776) was a leader of the New York Provincial Congress and a brigadier general of the New York Militia during the American Revolution.
Biography
Woodhull was born on December 30, 17 ...
.
* William Thomas Lawrence (1788–1859), a merchant who married Margaret Sophia Muller, daughter of Remburtus F. Muller, in 1825.
Lawrence died on September 4, 1812 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
Descendants
Through his eldest daughter Judith, he was a grandfather of John Lawrence Ireland (1796–1879), who married Mary Floyd, a sister of John Gelston Floyd, a U.S. Representative, and a granddaughter of
David Gelston
David Gelston (July 4, 1744 – August 21, 1828) was an American merchant and politician.
Early life
Gelston was born on July 4, 1744, in Bridgehampton in Suffolk County on Long Island in what was then the Province of New York. He was a so ...
(the
Collector of the Port of New York
The Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, most often referred to as Collector of the Port of New York, was a federal officer who was in charge of the collection of import duties on foreign goods that entered the United States by ship at t ...
) and
William Floyd
William Floyd (December 17, 1734 – August 4, 1821) was an American Founding Father, wealthy farmer, and political leader from New York. Floyd served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and was a signer of the Continental Association and ...
(a signer of the
United States Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...
). Ireland was the father of John Busteed Ireland (who married Adelia Duane Pell, daughter of
Robert Livingston Pell
Robert Livingston Pell (May 8, 1818 – February 11, 1880) was an American landowner and descendant of several prominent colonial families of New York.
Early life
Pell was born at the old Pell mansion in Pelham on May 8, 1818. He was a son of Al ...
). Another grandchild was Louisa Anna Ireland (1800–1845), who married Henry Woodhull Nicholl, and was the mother of three: Elizabeth Smith Nicholl (first wife of Gen. Alexander Hamilton, a grandson, and namesake, of Gen. Alexander Hamilton, the first
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...