Gen. Samuel Crocker Lawrence

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The Best Rum in the StatesBy Medford Historical Society Medford, Massachusetts If you were in the Square on a November night in 1860 and happened to be near the distillery of Daniel Lawrence & Sons on Ship Street (now Riverside Avenue) you could smell something wonderful in the frosty night air: XXXX Old Medford Rum. And, if you were a shipwright on the way to work the next morning, you would probably stop at the barrel of free rum kept outside the door of the distillery and put the tin dipper placed there into the rum and have a drink of that delightful stuff which the advertisements of the Lawrence family called: the best rum in the states.

Medford rum made by the Lawrence family was famous in its day, but they were not the first to make rum in the town. That credit belongs to the early Puritan families. Many of these good Puritans had stills in their homes and made alcohol for "medicinal purposes," but there was always some to serve to neighbors and visitors including the preacher. It would have been inhospitable not to do so. And who knows, there may be a still or two in operation in a private house in Medford now, and, of course, that custom of being hospitable is still observed today.

John Hall was the first to make the production of rum a business in the town. Sometime between 1715 and 1720 he operated a business on land he owned on the north side of Riverside Avenue. With some friends he built a still over a spring on this site, brought some hogsheads of molasses, and old Medtord rum hit the marketplace. Rum was made for almost two hundred years until 1905.

Medford rum made by the Lawrence family was famous in its day, but they were not the first to make rum in the town. That credit belongs to the early Puritan families. Many of these good Puritans had stills in their homes and made alcohol for "medicinal purposes," but there was always some to serve to neighbors and visitors including the preacher.

In 1735 John sold the establishment to his brother Andrew who carried on the business until his death in 1750. Benjamin, his son was nineteen at his father's death and was working in the Still House When he became twenty-one, he took over the business and operated it for the next fifty-one years. In 1797 the wooden building was taken down and the familiar bnck one seen in photographs was erected.

The rum of the colonists was full-flavored and robust. Until the coming of the railroads, there was almost always a bark next to the wharf near Mistick bridge unloading raw molasses for the distillery. In 1777 Medford rum sold for 3 shillings and 10 pence a gallon. Apparently there wasn't much profit in the busines at this price. But rum continued to be made and other distilleries were opened, mostly on the northern side of the Mystic where the land was higher and less likely to be flooded during high tide. Yet this did happen occasionally. Once at Isaac Hall's distillery the vats were filled and ready but the tide overflowed, and salt water entered the plant and ruined the molasses.

There were other distilleries in the same area. That same Isaac Hall had built his distillery next to the original one which in a later day was to be the engine shed for the Boston & Maine Railroad. About 1790 John Bishop built his distillery directly across the street from Benjamin Hall's distillery. Its back door was on the wharf where the ships brought in the hogsheads of molasses. And Hezekiah Blanchard had a small plant on the south side of the Mystic River where the Mystic Valley Parkway runs today. These are just some of the Medford names associated with rum.

After 1830, however, there was no competition in the making of Medford rum. There was only one firm making this famous rum and it bore the name of the Lawrence family.

Daniel Lawrence had come from Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, to Medford in 1823. He became involved in John Hall's distillery and eventually took over the business and continued it under his own name. The name was to become famous. The rum was choice and rich for the standards of the firm were high. The aim of the Lawrence distillery was to deliver a racy rum made from the best grade of molasses which would give "splendid satisfaction." That it did. Medford rum went round the world, often in the very ships built in the town. The rum industry provided jobs for many of Medford's citizens. Ships, bricks, and rum; they added up to prosperity for the town.

Shipbuilding came to an end in 1873 and Medford rum almost became extinct a few years later with the death of Daniel Lawrence in January, 1879. According to his will, the business was to be closed down in 1880. It wasn't. Instead, his sons, Samuel Crocker and Daniel W., carried it on for another twenty-five years. And then it was closed, suddenly and unexpectedly. Medford was celebrating its 275th anniversary in 1905. During this celebration, on June 15th, the Lawrence family made it known that the distillery was going to be closed. No reason was ever given.

Some said, however, that the family was losing money with the business. It is a fact that many Protestant churches, because of their temperance views, felt that rum making was a "blot" on the reputation of the city; thus when Samuel C. Lawrence had run for mayor 13 years earlier they had endorsed his opponent. This apparently had surprised him, as did his close victory in that race. Whatever the explanation, the making of Medford rum came to an abrupt end. Some people in Medford may have been happy but those who lost their livelihood and those who loved the taste of good old Medford rum were not among them.

The day after this dramatic announcement, the price of Medford rum went up and there was a rush to lay by a supply of the "old stuff by those who knew its value. The Lawrence family sold the right to the name Medford Rum (but not the secret of how to make it) to the M.S. Walker Company of South Boston where it is still made today. The huge copper tanks in which it was brewed were sold to a distillery in Everett and in 1933 sold again to a Charlestown firm. There was a rumour, also in 1933, and a story was published in the Mercury that the business was to be revived and that once again Medford rum was to be made in the city. The Mercury said the report was far from being a myth, but nothing ever came of the story.

The "best rum made in the states" had passed from the scene. At the supper parties held by the old Washington Hook and Ladder Company, the punch was made from the sacred old rum. It was a very popular drink and when the bowl was empty someone was sent running with an old leather fire bucket to get more rum. And if it were possible today, who wouldn't run with that old leather fire bucket to get some racy, rich, choice Old Medford Rum?

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Masonic history of 1892 BROTHER SAMUEL CROCKER LAWRENCE, 33À, Boston, Mass., was born in Medford, Mass., November 22, 1832. He received his early education in the public schools of his native town, and at Groton Academy, and graduated at Harvard University in 1855. Soon after leaving college, he went to Chicago, where for two years he was a partner in the banking firm of Bigelow & Lawrence. Returning to Massachusetts, he entered the firm of Daniel Lawrence & Sons, of Medford and Boston, of which he has long been the respected chief. He early showed a fondness for the military, and after several years of service in the State Militia, with rapid promotion from grade to grade, he was commissioned, in 1860, colonel of the Fifth Regiment of Massachusetts Militia. When the civil war broke out in 1861, he volunteered with his regiment and started, April 21, for Washington. The regiment fought with credit at the battle of Bull Run, where Col. Lawrence was wounded. In 1862, he was commissioned by Governor Andrew as a brigadier-general of the State Militia, which rank he resigned in 1864. He received, in 1869, a high compliment in being elected Commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, of Boston, the oldest and most distinguished military organization of the State. BROTHER LAWRENCE'S interest in Masonry, has run parallel with his activity in military affairs. He entered the fraternity in 1854, and from that time has been a prominent worker in the Masonic field. He has filled many of the highest positions in the various grades and-branches of Masonry, and his energy, method and executive ability have been of great and recognized service to the Craft. He has especially been an active promoter of the interests of the Scottish Rite, and it was largely due to his exertions that the breach which had long existed between rival bodies of the Rite was healed, and a union established, May 17, 1867, which has raised the Scottish Rite in this jurisdiction to an enviable position of prosperity. For fourteen years he stood at the head of the Rite in Massachusetts, resigning in 1879. BROTHER LAWRENCE'S career as a Mason culminated n his election as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, in December 1880. His election was a spontaneous tribute to his character and distinguished services to the Institution. He was thrice elected to this office, and during his term of service, the Masons of the State, largely through his influence and exertions, succeeded in liquidating the balance ($162,000) of the heavy debt, which had long rested upon the Grand Lodge, incurred in the building of the Temple in Boston. He took the presidency of the Eastern Railroad Company in 1875, at the moment of its financial shipwreck, and succeeded in keeping that valuable property intact, and in harmonizing the creditors and shareholders into arrangements which saved their interests, aggregating twenty millions in value, from the wasting effects of a struggle in bankruptcy, and at the same time preserved the extensive leasehold of the Company from disruption. BROTHER LAWRENCE was married in 1859 to Carrie R. Badger, daughter of Rev. William Badger, of Wilton, Maine.

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SAMUEL CROCKER LAWRENCE (November 22, 1832 – September 24, 1911), financier and manufacturer, was born in Medford, Massachusetts, son of Daniel and Elizabeth (nee Crocker) Lawrence. The Lawrence family is one of the oldest in the country and can be traced in England back to the 12th century. John Lawrence, of St. Albans, the first American ancestor of the family, came from England in the ship "Planter," in 1635 and settled in that year at Watertown, Mass. From him the line is traced through Enoch, Nathaniel, James, Lemuel, and Lemuel, Jr., who was Samuel's grandfather. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, and was graduated at Harvard University in the celebrated class of 1855, his classmates including Phillip Brooks, Alexander Agassiz, Frank P. Sanborn, Gen. R. S. Barlow, Edwin H Abbot, Robert Treat Paine, and Theodore Lyman. Soon after graduation he started business in Chicago, Illinois as a member of the banking firm of Bigelow & Lawrence. He had a natural taste for banking, and the firm in Chicago was successful from the first, but after two years he acceded to the repeated requests if his father to return to Medford and enter the Lawrence distillery.

This business had been established for one hundred and seventy years, and the distillery had had been in the hands of his family since 1824. The celebrated Medford Rum manufactured by it was famous all over the world for more than a century. Returning to Medford in 1858, he became a partner with his father and brother, under the firm name of Daniel Lawrence & Sons. He was the sole proprietor from 1867 to 1905, when he closed the distillery. He had always been interested in military affairs, and while still a student he joined the Massachusetts State militia. In 1855, he was commissioned lieutenant, and promotion thenceforth came rapidly to him until, in 1860, he became colonel of the fifth regiment, and brought it to a high degree of efficiency in drill and prepared it for active service. When the Civil War broke out the fifth and sixth regiments were the first to volunteer for service. His regiment distinguished itself at Bull Run, where Colonel Lawrence was wounded and left for dead on the field. Its men re-enlisted, and served through the war, and it was one of the last regiments mustered out of service. Colonel Lawrence was commissioned brigadier-general over volunteers in June 1862, and in the following year led the militia that suppressed the Boston draft riots. He resigned his commission in August 1864. Five years later he was elected commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, of which he was an active member up to the time of his death.

In 1875, General Lawrence became interested in railroad enterprises, and was prominently and effectively identified with several big railroad companies. He rendered special service to the old Easter Railroad Company in 1875, when he was elected its president. The company was then on the verge of bankruptcy and disruption of its valuable leased liens seemed imminent. Only a man of unusual energy, tact, personality and executive ability could possibly have kept it together, and this combination of qualities General Lawrence supplied. When the Eastern railroad was leased to the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1884, General Lawrence became a director of the joint corporation, and from 1893 to 1908 was an executive director of the Boston & Maine Railroad. He also took a prominent part in the second and successful reorganization of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé railroad.

He was always keenly interested in the civic affairs of Medford, and did much for the welfare of the town. He was appointed trustee of the public library in 1868, and a commissioner of sinking funds in 1878, and held the position of chairman of both bodies until his death, but he persistently refused to accept any elective public office until the town was made a city in 1892, when he became its first mayor. His term of office was marked by phenomenal progress in municipal affairs, General Lawrence was a trustee and chairman of the Medford Public Library for forty-three years, and bought for it from his own funds hundreds of volumes and works of art. He spent over $500,000 in destroying the gypsy moth pest in Medford and in Middlesex county and saved Middlesex Fells to the public. He took an active part in securing legislation, state and national, for the suppression of this destructive insect pest and in disseminating information respecting it — the powerful spraying machines now in general use. General Lawrence was connected with the Masonic Order as soon as he attained his majority, and became one of the most prominent Masons in the country. He was one of the fifty-seven men who brought about the union of the Scottish Rite Masonic bodies in 1867. He was a grand commander of the Knights Templar of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 1894-1895; grand master of the Grand lodge of Massachusetts, 1880-1883; lieutenant grand commander of the Supreme Council, 33° Scottish Rite Masons, and since 1866 an active member and officer of the Supreme Council, thirty-third degree, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Among the many other Masonic bodies with which he was connected in different capacities are: Hiram Lodge of Arlington in 1853; Mount Hermon Lodge, Medford, since 1854; St. Paul's Royal Arch Chapter, Mystic Royal Arch Chapter in 1853; Boston Council, Royal and Select Masters; De Molay Commandery, K.T., Boston; Boston Commandery, K.T., since 1858; Joseph Warren Commandery, Boston; St. John's Commandery, Philadelphia; Apollo Commandery, Chicago; Lafayette Lodge of Perfection, Boston; Giles F. Yates Council of Princes of Jerusalem, Lawrence Chapter of Rose Croix; Mount Calvary Chapter of Rose Croix, Lowell; De Witt Clinton Consistory, Sutton Lodge of Perfection, Salem. He was extremely active in the interests of the order, and contributed his lime and money in many ways to strengthen and extend its influence. It was through his efforts that the big debt on the Masonic Temple in Boston was cleared away. It was he who started the charity funds of every Masonic body with which lie was connected, and it was his money that largely contributed to endow them permanently. In his will he left liberal legacies to the Grand Lodge of Masons, the Charity Funds of the Mystic Royal Arch Chapter, Medford; Medford Council, Royal and Select Masters, Boston Lafayette Lodge of Perfection, Lawrence Chapter Rose Croix, Worcester and Boston Commandery, Knights Templar, besides various sums to other Masonic bodies. He made a hobby of military histories and Masonic literature, and his Masonic library contained what is undoubtedly the most complete collection of that kind in the world.

General Lawrence also left $50,000 in his will to found scholarships at Harvard College, and left another $50,000 for the benefit of the Lawrence Light Guard of Medford, known as Company E, Fifth Regiment—his old command—for whose benefit he had also given an ample fund to trustees for the maintenance of the elegant armory building which he had previously erected for the Light Guards. He also left a substantial sum of money to Lawrence Academy and to the Universalist Church, Medford. Many general philanthropic and educational activities likewise profited during his lifetime from his lavish generosity. General Lawrence was a director and member of the executive committee of the Maine Central Railroad since 1875. He was furthermore a director of the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad, the Washington County Railway, and the Somerset Railway.

At the time of his death he was senior surviving trustee of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., which he helped raise to the position of one of the greatest life insurance companies in the country. He had a large grapefruit farm near Miami, Florida, where he spent his winters during his latter years, and was a pioneer in developing that industry. The versatility of General Lawrence was remarkable. Soldier, manufacturer, railroad organizer, insurance man, farmer, he handled a wide variety of large interests, and was uniformly successful in everything he touched. His services to the Masonic Order alone would have fully engaged the lifetime energies of any ordinary man. But the energy and talent of General Lawrence were of a quality very far above the ordinary. He was an unusual man, with an unusual grasp of affairs, an unusual executive capacity, and an unusual firmness and directness of purpose. He was an able mathematician, and the intense mental concentration, determination and mathematical exactness which he thus developed he brought to the conduct of his business affairs, and it had doubtless much to do with his success. If business success had been his sole aim he undoubtedly would have accomplished even greater things. But he had other and higher ideals to which business career was merely an incident and adjunct. He was imbued with a deep and sincere love for his fellow men, with an earnest desire to help them; it was the expression of his love for humanity that formed the leading motive and characteristic of his life-work.

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