Prepared by: Paul E. Lawrence 13 Park Terrace Fairfield Glade, TN 38558 (931) 456-4776 Send email to preparer: [email protected] [email protected]

I have found two conflicting genealogies for the ancestry of the Lawrences of Ashton Hall. The first is the most commonly published ancestry by H. G. Somberby and others. According to this genealogy, the Lawrences of Ashton Hall are descended from a Robert Lawrence born about 1150 A.D., or about 1155/60 A.D., depending on the writer, in the vicinity of Lancaster, England. One source indicates that his father also was named Robert and worked as a silversmith for the Lord of Lancaster Castle. Lancaster Castle was established about 1100 A.D. on the remains of three Roman forts and today is a prison. Robert Lawrence joined the Third Crusades in 1187 A.D. led by Richard Couer de Lion. He traveled by ship first to Cyprus and then to what is now present day Palestine. There he took part in the siege of Acre. One version indicates that he scaled the walls of Acre with four other men and opened the gates to the armies of the Crusades. Another version indicates that he was the first to raise the flag of the Crusades on a Palestine hill during the siege of Acre. For his deeds he was knighted by King Richard in 1191 A.D. and was given Ashton Hall. Another writer indicates that he was created a Knight-Banneret (a military Knighthood and the highest grade in the Middle Ages) and was allow to bear for Arms, "Agent, a cross ragulée gules," a red cross of trunks of trees having pieces like couped boughs projecting from the side in a slanting direction, on a silver shield. This Arms is registered with the College of Arms in London, England. Sir Robert Lawrence also is referred to Robert de Lancaster in some texts. This probably is more accurate as surnames did not come into common use until the late 1200s or early 1300s. According to the Imperial Gazetteer of England, Ashton Hall is the seat in the township of Ashton-with-Stoddy, Lancashire, between the Preston and Lancaster railway and the estuary of the Lune, about 2 and 3/4 miles south of Lancaster. Ownership of Ashton Hall eventually passed by marriage to the Dukes of Hamilton. One source indicates that within the halls of Ashton Manor is a silver cup adorned with the motif of Roman armies and the Roman General, Julius Agricola who was born in the year 40 A.D. Legend indicates that General Agricola arrived in Lancaster in the year 89 A.D. where he and his armies built the first wooden fort upon a hill where Lancaster Castle stands. During his stay, he met and fell in love with a young British girl by whom he had a son. He was unable to take the girl and child with him when he returned to Italy where he had a large estate, wife, and children. He gave the cup to the girl as a legacy. The son supposedly became the first silversmith in a long line of silversmiths and, according to legend, was the direct ancestor of the above Robert Lawrence. No basis for the legend appear in existing records but no doubt the thousands of Romans marching through England left some genetic connections behind. There are no Doomsday Book of 1086 lists for Lancaster, nor fees lists, or fines lists that mention the name Sir Robert Lawrence. However, his existence is proven by the recording of his knighthood in the College of Arms and his mentioned in the French scribe's rendition of the Intinerarium, a day by day account of the Third Crusades. Manuscripts written by Schuyler Lawrence disputes the above account of the ancestry of the Lawrences. His account can be found in a communication to the editor of the New England Historical Society written December 1935 and which can be found at the LDS Family History Library on microfilm no. 0517241. He also wrote a Lawrence Family Record Series of manuscripts containing the following: Part I, A Bibliography of the Lawrence Family; Part II, The Lawrences, Squires of Ashton, Lancs.; Part III, A Branch of the New Jersey Lawrences by the Hon. Warren Wirt Henry Lawrence; Part IV, Lawrence of Chelsea, Middlesex, and of Delafore, Ivor, Bucks 1570-1750, Baronets 1628-1714; Part IX, A Partial List of Lawrence Rectors and Ministers in English Parishes; and Part X, Miscelleneous Lawrence Pedigrees. I have not identified or located Parts V through VIII. Only two copies of Schuyler's manuscripts supposedly exist in the United States and four copies in England. The two copies in the U. S. are at the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library, main branch. I have been unable to locat the copy at the Library of Congress. However, the New York City Public Library does have a copy on microfilm. According to Schuyler Lawrence's account, the Lawrences did not take possession of Ashton Hall until almost 100 years after the Crusades. The first mention of the family is in a suit filed in 1292 where Lawrence de Lancaster sets forth his claim to 30 acres of land in Skerton. The suit mentions the first three generations of the family begining with Roger de Lancaster but has no mention of a Sir Robert Lawrence or Sir Robert de Lancaster. The son of Lawrence de Lancaster, John, was the first to use the surname Lawrence taking it from the given name of his father. This was one of the many ways surnames came into being. John Lawrence was granted Ashton Hall for life in 1324. One of the sources for this information is the Victoria History of Lancashire written in the early 1900s. This work is based primarily on land records and is not a work from which it is easy to put together a pedigree. A copy of the Victoria History of Lancashire is on microfilm at the Library of Congress. I have made copies of the parts dealing with the Lawrences and Ashton Hall, examine them, and conclude that they substantiate Schuyler's findings. I, however, to date have been unable to research other references that he cites. Perhaps the Roger de Lancaster mention in Schuyler's manuscript was a descendant of the Sir Robert Lawrence or de Lancaster of the Crusades. The Arms given in the College of Arms is the Arms that is used by this Lawrence Family.

BIOGRAPHY Ray Sims: "The first ancestor of the Lawrences from whom our family can definitely be traced, was Sir Robert Lawrence, who King Richard I (the Lionhearted) in the second crusade to the Holy Land. He was distinguished by being the first to plant the banner of the cross (the emblem on his shield) on the battlements... at the memorable siege of St. Jean d'Acre in 1191. For his services there he was knighted by King Richard and granted Ashton Hall in Lancashire. He is assumed to have been about 30 years old at the time. Lancashire County is is the northwestern part of England, a lowland area along the Irish Sea. His coat of arms is still preserved, impressed on the seal appended to a document of William Lawrence, 1680, and also Richard Lawrence, 1711, preserved in the Surrogate's Office, New York City."

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Record Change October 01, 1999 @HI2833@