Sullivan-Luzerne-Chester County PA Archives Biographies.....Lawrence, William John 1857 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 28, 2008, 8:10 pm Author: Thomas J. Ingham (1899) WILLIAM JOHN LAWRENCE is a well-known contractor and builder of Dushore, senior member of the firm of Lawrence Brothers, of whose skill and ability many notable examples are seen at various points in this region. Thoroughly reliable in all things, the quality of his work is a convincing test of his own personal worth, and the same admirable trait is shown in his conscientious discharge of the duties of the different positions of trust and responsibility to which he has been chosen in business and political life. He is now acceptably serving as prothonotary, register and recorder, and clerk of the courts of Sullivan county, and makes his home in Laporte. William Lawrence, our subject's grandfather, was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, in 1803, and came to Sullivan county about 1828, purchasing a farm in Cherry township, where he was engaged in tilling the soil until his death. He took an active part in the organization of the county and was one of the commissioners first elected. He married Miss Eliza, daughter of Horatio Ladd, and to them were born four children: Ann, who married Andrew Jackson, of Dushore, now deceased; Celinda, wife of Freeman Wilcox, of New Albany, Bradford county, Pennsylvania; John H., justice of the peace in Dushore; and Fidelia, deceased. For his second wife he married Mrs. Ann Gage, daughter of Thomas Manley, and to them were born two children: Ida, deceased; and William T., of East Canton, Pennsylvania. John Horatio Lawrence, our subject's father, was born in Cherry township, April 11, 1833, was educated in the district schools, and on attaining his majority embarked in mercantile business in Dushore. Two years later, however, he sold out and bought a farm in Cherry township, which he has since successfully conducted. He has not confined his attention alone to agricultural pursuits, but has again engaged in merchandising in Dushore, has engaged in lumbering to a considerable extent, and also acted as insurance agent. He has taken quite an active and prominent part in political affairs, has held the offices of school director, auditor and constable; in 1865 was elected sheriff of the county on the Democratic ticket, and was appointed justice of the peace in 1893 and again in 1898, being the present incumbent. He married Miss Hannah C., daughter of John Dieffenbach, of Cherry township, and they have become the parents of twelve children: Elizabeth, Mrs. D. W. Pealer, of Lopez, Pennsylvania; Ida E., Mrs. D. H. Larah, of Sonestown, Sullivan county; William J., our subject; Clarence, deceased; Charles T., a contractor and builder, of Dushore; Clinton E., a contractor and builder of Lopez; Jennie F., Mrs. J. P. Little, of California; Howard, deceased; Orville H., a manufacturer, of Waverly, New York; Celinda A., a resident of California; Laura, Mrs. A. J. Bradley, of Laporte; and Frank W., a journeyman machinist. William J. Lawrence was born in Cherry township, Sullivan county, February 27, 1857, and was there educated in the district schools. At the early age of sixteen years he taught one term of school, and in the spring of 1874 secured a position in the office of a lumber firm in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. A year later he entered the office of Broderick & Company at Luzerne, Pennsylvania, as bookkeeper, remaining in their employ one year. The following two years he worked at the carpenter's trade in the summer and in the mines during the winter, but being injured in the mines he returned to Sullivan county and worked at his trade in Dushore through the summer and taught school during the winter for three years. He then moved to Milton, Pennsylvania, and later to Chester, but in 1884 returned to Sullivan county, and in the fall of the same year he and his brother, Charles T., began contracting and building. In the conduct of this business they have been eminently successful and among the prominent buildings which they have erected are the Hotel Eaglesmere at Eaglesmere; the Catholic church at Overton; the Episcopal church at Laporte; the Catholic churches at Wilmot and Laporte; and the court-houses at Troy and Laporte; besides many other public buildings and residences in Sullivan and Bradford counties. In May, 1877, Mr. Lawrence was united in marriage to Miss Annie B., daughter of Mrs. Harriet Baker, of Luzerne, and to them have been born five children: Bertha G., a successful teacher, who is a graduate of the Bloomsburg State Normal; Eva Blanch; William S.; Hattie Winifred: and John R. Mr. Lawrence is a director of the First National Bank of Dushore, and has always been counted as one of the representative and most enterprising citizens of the place. In the fall of 1889 he was the Republican nominee for sheriff and was defeated by a small majority. He was elected school director at Dushore in 1891, and resigned that position in 1896 on his removal to Laporte. In the fall of 1895 he was elected to the offices which he is now so creditably and satisfactorily filling. Again in 1898 he was re-elected as prothonotary, register and recorder and clerk of the courts. Upright and honorable in all his dealings and true to every trust reposed in him, he has the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact either in public or private life, and his friends are many throughout Sullivan county. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Sullivan County Pennsylvania by Thomas J. Ingham Compendium of Biography The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago: 1899 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb