From: [email protected] Subject: [GM-L] Abbott LAWRENCE Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 23:45:28 EST

Subject: Lawrence, Abbott Source: An Historical Sketch of Groton, MA by Dr. Samuel A. Green 1894 Printed at Groton, MA. p.236

The name of Lawrence is one of the earliest to be found among the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts. John Lawrence, the first emigrant of the name was established in Watertown as early as 1635. Abbott Lawrence was the fifth son of Samuel and Susanna Lawrence. He was born in Groton on the 16th day of December, 1792. He received the family name of his paternal grandmother, Abigail Abbott, daughter of Nehemiah Abbott of Lexington. His education, begun at the district school, was completed at the academy of the town, of which his father had been a trustee for many years. In 1808 he was sent to Boston and placed as an apprentice to his older brother, Amos Lawrence, who had been for some years established there as an importer of English goods. By steady application and fidelity he prepared himself in this subordinate position for the responsibilities which were soon to come upon him as a principal. In 1814 he was admitted to partnership with his brother. The times were by no means encouraging, as we were in the midst of our war with England, and after a few months the prospect seedmed so umpromising that Mr. Lawrence proposed to withdraw from the business and enter the army. He had previously been an active member of the New England Guards. He applied to the War Department for a commission, but before an answer could be received the news of peace arrived, and he abandoned all thought of a military life. He embarked in the first vessel that left Boston for England after the proclamation of peace to purchase goods for the market. "The passage was a short one. With characteristic ardor, he was the first to leap on shore, being thus, perhaps, the first American who touched his fatherland after the war was ended."

He remained abroad for some time, on the occasion of this his first voyage to Europe, visiting the Continent, where he saw the allied armies immediately after the Battle of Waterloo. Messrs. A. & A. Lawrence soon engaged largely in the sale of cotton and woolen goods of domestic manufacturer, and devoted all their energies to foster this great branch of the national industry. Mr. Lawrence's interest in the work of railroad construction in New England was hardly less than in the establishment and extension of the manufacturing system. He was a large subscriber to the various railroads projected for the concentration of trade in Boston, and this from a feeling of patriotism rather than the expectation of profit. Mr. Lawrence was chosen to represent Massachusetts at the Harrisburg Convention in 1827 and took a prominent part in its proceedings. In 1831 he was elected to the Common Council of Boston. In 1834 he was elected to Congress. On taking his place he was at once put on the Committee of Ways and Means. On the expiration of his term his constituents testified their sense of his services by inviting him to a public dinner. This he declined in a letter in which he touches on the great question of the day. He declined a re-election to Congress, although the members of the opposite party gave him the remarkable assurance that, if he would consent to accept to stand, no candidate should be brought out against him. Two years later he consented to accept a second nomination and again took his seat in the House. Shortly after his arrival he was attacked by typhus fever, so that for some time small hopes were entertained of his recovery. He resigned in the following autumn.

In the Presidential campaign of 1840, Mr. Lawrence took an active part in favor of the election of General Harrison. In September 1842, he was president of the Whig Convention which nominated Henry Clay for President on the part of Massachusetts. In 1842 Mr. Lawrence was appointed by the Governor one of the commissioners on the part of Massachusetts to negotiate a settlement of our northeastern boundary, which had been a source of irritation for many years between the United States and England. Quoting Mr. Prescott's language: "It is not too much to say that bur for the influence exerted by Mr. Lawrence on this occasion the treaty, if it had been arranged at all, would never have been brought into the shape which it now wears." Mr. Nathan Appleton in his memoir confirms this statement in the following words: "It is the belief of the writer, who was then in Congress, that to Mr. Lawrence more than to any other individual is due the successful accomplishment of the negotiation which resulted in the important Treaty of Washington.

In July 1843, Mr. Lawrence accompanied by his wife and daughter embarked from Boston to England in the steamer, "Columbia." The following day they were wrecked on Black Ledge, near Seal Island. After a week's detention on the island, they were transported to Halifax whence they proceeded on their voyage.

Mr. Lawrence's reputation had preceded him. He was received in England with marked attention, and the hospitality of many distinguished and influential was extended to him. In 1844 he was a delegate to the Whig National Convention and one of the electors at large for the State of Massachusetts. He was an ardent supporter of Henry Clay for the Presidency and deeply dissappointed on his defeat. In 1845 the Essex Company was organized and Mr. Lawrence was its president and the first and largest subscriber to its stock. The city of Lawrence, incorporated as a town in 1847 was named for him. Most justly has it been said: "The broad Comprehension, unwavering faith and large capacity of Abbott Lawrence should never be forgotten by dwellers in the city that bears his name."

In 1846 Mr. Lawrence addressed to the Hon. William C. Rives, of Virginia, his celebrated letters on the tariff. Mr. Webster wrote to Mr. Lawrence from Washington: "Your letters to Mr. Rives have a very great circulation, as you are aware, and are highly praised by intelligent men. The second of them will form the substratum of what I propose to say (if I say anything) on the tariff subject." "These letters attracted much attention in all parts of the country and especially in Virginia, where they were reprinted and commented upon at length in the leading newspapers. So deep was the impression made in that State, and such a spirit of enterprise did they enkindle, that some of the leading citizens invited him to come and establish a manufacturing town at the Great Falls of the Potomac. This appeal on the part of a sister State for cooperation and leadership in the development of its industry and capital was a remarkable recognition and tribute to the ability and character of Mr. Lawrence, but vast interests were at stake nearer home and he could not allow himself to be diverted from this work by the projected enterprise on the shores of the Potomac, no matter how alluring the promise of results both to himself and to others."

Mr. Hill in his Memoir thus spoke of Mr. Lawrence: "His character, in all respects that of the pure New England type, was peculiarly so in the love and zeal which he always manifested in the cause of popular education." We have an illustration of this in the letters written by him when he established the Lawrence prizes in the High and Latin Schools of Boston, (1844-45) giving to each the sum of $2,000 (and using his own language,) the interest to be expended in medals, books and other prizes among those pupils who may excel in the various branches of learning which are taught in those schools." In a like spirit, he aided in the endowment of the Franklin Library at Lawrence which also received a bequest of $5,000 at his death.

For several years he had felt (to use his own words) "the pressing want in our community and in the whole country, of an increased number of men educated in the practical sciences." "He was satisfied," says Mr. Prescott, "that however liberal the endowments of that institution (Harvard) "for objects of liberal culture, no adequate provision had been made for instruction in science." When, therefore the Corporation of the University announced its purpose of organizing a school of theoretical and practical science, he responded by a gift in 1847 of fifty thousand dollars. In recognition of his munificence the institution was named the Lawrence Scientific School. Soon after its establishment, Professor Agassiz was appointed to the chair of Zoology and Geology. Mr. Lawrence endowed the school with a further sum by his will.

Mr. Lawrence was a leader in the movement to supply the city of Boston with an abundance of pure water. He attended several public meetings held to promote that object and made speeches in support of it. One of them may be found in full in "Hill's Memoir of Abott Lawrence." The project met with the strongest opposition. The first act of Legislature (passed March 1845) authorizing the city to take water from either Long Pond or Charles River was rejected at the polls by a large majority, but a second act, such had been the change in the public opinion only eleven months later, was accepted by a still larger majority. Water was brought into the city from Long Pond in October 1848 and Mr. Lawrence lived to see all his predictions more than verified.

In the Presidential canvass of 1848 the name of Mr. Lawrence was prominently associated for the office of Vice-President with that of General Taylor for President and at the convention in Philadelphia he wanted but six votes of being nominated for that office. This result was owing to the peculiar and unexpected course of some of the delegates from his own state. He however, heartily sustained the nomination of Taylor and Fillmore. Immediately after the inauguration of General Taylor, Mr. Lawrence was offered a seat in his Cabinet, but he declined it; soon after he was nominated to the mission to England, which he accepted. After serving three years his private affairs obliged him to return and in October, 1852, he resigned. No minister from the United States was ever more respected or left behind him a more enviable reputation. The Rev. John Cumming, in dedicating the American edition of his "Apocalyptic Sketches" to Mr. Lawrence, says: "I regard this as an opportunity of expressing a conviction shared and felt by the good and great of this country how much they appreciated your presence in London, as the representative of your magnificent nation, and how deeply, (I may add universally), they regretted your departure. We never had so popular a minister from America or one who has done so much to leave lasting and elevated impressions of his countrymen."

After his return from England, Mr. Lawrence held no public position, though he still maintained a warm interest in public affairs. He vigorously opposed the new State Constitution of 1853 and made numerous speeches against it; but with this exception and his efforts in the "canvass for General Scott as President he took no active part in politics. He showed the same zeal as ever in the cause of education and watched with the deepest interest over the rising fortunes of the (Harvard) Scientific School which he had founded at Cambridge."

Mr. Lawrence married on the 28th of June 1819, Katharine, the eldest daughter of the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, the distinguished lawyer. He died in Boston on the 18th of August, 1855, and was buried with civil and military honors. Recognizing Mr. Lawrence's hearty and generous interest in the causes of education, as well as his valuable public services, Williams College in 1852 and Harvard College in 1854 conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth @MI45568@