The
Highland Township Historical Society
Highland, Oakland County, Michigan |
BACK TO THE
BIOGRAPHIES MAIN PAGE
LAWRENCE, SAMUEL S.
Portrait
and Biographical Album of Oakland County, Michigan, Chapman Bros. (1891), pp. 781-782
SAMUEL S. LAWRENCE, a farmer on section 10, Highland Township, is a son of John Lawrence, son
of John, a native of Connecticut, who went to Vermont when a young man,
and locating his farm, returned to Connecticut and was married. His father, Jonathan,
was a native of Holland, of English parentage. When a child his parents returned to
England. The father of Mrs. Lawrence disinherited her, and she with
her husband and child sailed for America, where young Jonathan was reared
in Worcester, Mass. This emigration of John and Mary
(Townsley) Lawrence, took place in 1714. They had been married in 1693, and
both died in 1743.
Their son Jonathan, who was the great-grandfather of our subject, married
Elizabeth Buttrick, who died in 1735. His second marriage, in 1738,
was with Hannah Robins. Unto them were born six
children - Jonathan, Mary, Nathaniel, Abigail,
John (the grandfather of our subject), and William.
The children by the first wife were - Experience, Samuel,
Jacob and Josiah. Jonathan Lawrence
spent his latter days in Connecticut, where he died in 1769. The grandfather of our
subject was born in 1746, in Connecticut, and married in 1769, Mary Cleveland,
who was born in 1748. This couple died, he in 1825 and she in 1836.
The children of the grandfather of our subject were: Ruth, Pitt,
John (deceased), Sarah (deceased), Lydia,
Sarah, Mary, John (the father of our
subject), Samuel (deceased), and Alice. This John
Lawrence was a farmer and a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was a
Minute Man in the battle of Bennington. John Lawrence, Jr., was
born January 7, 1786, in Bennington, Vt. In the same place he was married to Susan
Stanton in 1806. After a few years they removed to New York, and settled in
Spafford, Onondaga County. Here they lived about twelve years, and then removed to
Cortland County, and after a few years came to Michigan, where they arrived in 1835.
Their children were: Hannah N., Phoebe S., John
C., Russel J., Pitt, Minerva, Alanson
T., Porter J., Samuel S. and Luman
N., who all lived to maturity.
When John Lawrence first came to Michigan, he purchased one hundred and
fifty acres- in Washington Township, Macomb County. He afterward added forty acres,
and then sold his farm and went to Oxford Township, Oakland County, where he resided until
his death, August 2,1855. His faithful wife survived him until May 23, 1866.
They were both earnest and consistent members of the Baptist Church. He was a
Democrat, and was for nine years Justice of the Peace in Macomb County. He was a
school teacher in an early day, and for some years he kept tavern in connection with
farming.
Samuel S. Lawrence was born April 23, 1824, in Onondago County, N. Y.
At the age of eleven years he came West with his parents. January, 1846, saw
his marriage with Laura L. Alma, a native of New York, where she was born
January 28, 1831. Their wedding took place in Oakland County. Their wedded
life lasted only the short period of six years, when the wife was called to her heavenly
home August 30, 1852. In 1848 Mr. Lawrence left the farm of his
father, and settled in Oxford on a farm of fifty acres, which he ultimately increased to
one hundred and fifty broad and fertile acres. He traveled for an insurance company
for about two years, and in 1864 came to Highland Township,
where he has since resided. Here he owns two hundred and forty acres upon which he
has erected good buildings.
The second marriage of our subject took place March 26, 1855, in Oxford Township, Oakland
County. His wife, Almeda Tindall, is a daughter of Joseph
and Patience R. (Freeman) Tindall, natives of New York. To this
couple were born the [Begin Page 782] following children, who are all
living: Francis, Carrie, Fred, Will,
Ina and Ed. Mr. Lawrence is a
breeder of Shropshire sheep, and a general farmer. Not only he and his excellent
wife, but most of his family are members of the Congregational Church. He and three
of his sons are earnest Prohibitionists, and he has worked and voted for Prohibition for
nineteen years, previous to which he was a Democrat. He was educated with more than
ordinary care in his youth, and has been a teacher during some portions of his life.
|