Maj. William Lawrence

Origins

William Lawrence and Anna Sprague (daughter of Francis Sprague), his 1st wife, were the parents of three children, born at Vlissingen, New Netherland (later known as Flushing, but presently as College Point, Queens County, New York) with her husband in 1645.

• 1. William Lawrence, b. 1645 (m. Deborah Smith).
• 2. Elizabeth Lawrence, b. 1650 (m. Thomas Stevenson).
• 3. John Lawrence, b. 1655 (m. Elizabeth Cornell).

Anna Sprague died in Vlissingen, New Netherland about 1664 (before 4 March 1664/65) when William Lawrence remarried to Elizabeth Lawrence.

William Lawrence was the eldest son of William Lawrence by his 1st wife, Anna Sprague, He married Deborah Smith, daughter of Richard Smith and Sarah Hammond.

He was referred to as "Captain William Lawrence" (1683) and "Major William Lawrence" (1698).

Will

▫ William LAWRENCE — Will

• To all Christian People, Greeting. I, William Lawrence, of Flushing in Queen's County, on the Island of Nassau, being conscious of the mortality of life in this world.
• I leave to my wife Deborah Lawrence, one-half of my household stuff, during her widowhood,
• and the other half to my daughter Elizabeth, also two negroes.
• I leave to my son, Joshua Lawrence, a bond of 57. 10s.
• I leave to my son, Caleb Lawrence, all the farm I now live on, in Tews Neck, with all the housing and orchards, and a negro boy and two horses.
• I leave to my son Stephen, 500 acres of land I bought of the Underhills, at a place called Spring Hill, in East and West Jersey, and one negro boy and two horses.
• I leave to my sons, Obadiah, Daniel, Joshua, and Adam,
• and my son-in-law, Joseph Rodman, all my right of land in Smithtown Patent, which father Smith gave me in his will, and all my right in Smithtown.
• I make my sons, Daniel and Obadiah, and my son-in-law, Joseph Rodman, executors.
• I give all the rest of my estate, and two lots of land in New York, which I bought of Carster Learsen, as by bill of sale from him, lying in William street, above the Smiths Vly, to all my children.

Dated 28 July 1719. Witnesses: Joseph Thorn, Sr., Benjamin Thorn, Jacob Thorn.
Proved before John Jackson, Judge of the Common Pleas, on 16 March 1719/20.
Liber 9, Page 152

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173314636/william-lawrence

Supporting data

• The Magna charta barons and their American descendants with the pedigrees of the founders of the Order of Runnemede deduced from the sureties for the enforcement of the statutes of the Magna charta of King John (1898)
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• Pg.244
• 11. LADY MARY DE WELLES, sister to Sir Lionel, or Leo, sixth Lord Welles, lord lieutenant of Ireland, k. 1461, and Sir William de Welles, lord chief justice of Ireland, 1442, who m. John Laurence, of Rixton Manor, Lancastershire, returned to Parliament for Lancaster County, October 16, 1419. He was a commissioner for musters in Londale Wapentake, commission dated April 28, 6 Henry V., and had :
• 12. MARGARET LAURENCE, who m. her cousin, Robert Laurence (his nephew Sir Thomas, son of his brother. Sir James Laurence, of Standish, m. Lady Eleanor, a daughter of Sir Lionel, Lord Welles), eldest son of Sir Robert Laurence, of Ashton Hall, Lancastershire, member of Parliament, 1459 (whose pedigree, beginning in 1190, is preserved in the Herald's Visitation to Gloucestershire, 1682-3), and his wife, Amphibis, a daughter of Edward de Longford, Lancastershire, and had :
• 13. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, of Withington, 1509, and Sevenhampton, which he bought, in Gloucestershire, Sea House, in Somersetshire, and Blackley Park and Norton, in Worcestershire. He also owned the manors of Staple Farm, New House, Upcot Farm, etc. His will was proved
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• Pg.245
• in 1559.(*) He m. before 1518, Isabel, daughter of John Molineaux, of Sefton Manor and Chorly (Sorely), in Lancashire, and had :
• 14. EDMUND LAWRENCE, of Withington parish, Gloucestershire, fourth son. His will dated August 30, 1558, proved January 10, 1559. He had issue by his wife Eleanor, whose surname has not been preserved :
• 15. JOHN LAWRENCE, of St. Albans, in Hertfordshire. He was chief burgess in 1553, and mayor of St. Albans in 1567 and 1575, and had by his wife, whose name has not been preserved :
• 16. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, of St Albans, who m. there, November 25, 1559, Catherine Beamond, or Beaumont, and had:
• 17. JOHN LAWRENCE, bapt. at Abbey Church, St. Albans, January 12, 1561-2, who had by his second wife, m. January 25, 1586-7, Margaret Roberts:
• 18. THOMAS LAWRENCE, of St. Albans, second son, bapt. at St. Albans, February 2, 1588-9, d. March 20, 1624-5. He was an assistant of the borough of St Albans, 1622, and m. October 23, 1609, Joan, daughter of Walter and Joan Antrobus (Anterbus), of St. Albans. Joan m. secondly, John Tuthill (or Tuttell), of Ipswich, and came with him to New England in April, 1635, bringing John, b. 1618, and William, children of her first husband, Thomas Lawrence, of whom :
• 19. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, bapt. at St. Albans, July 27, 1622, d. 1680 (no will). In 1645 he and his brother John, who was one of the patentees of Hampstead, Long Island, New York, obtained the patent of Flushing, Long Island,
  • (*) In the Herald's pedigree (Gloucestershire Visitations, 1682) he is given as son of John, the son of the aforesaid William and Margaret, but by Sir Thomas Phillips, in the pedigree of Lawrence, of Sevenhampton, as brother to John, son of Robert.
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• Pg.246
• New York, from the Dutch Governor Keift, and were of the number to whom the confirmatory patent was issued by Governor Nicoll, in 1666. He was a magistrate of Flushing, 1655, and one of its largest land-owners ; was a member of the governor's council, 1700 ; captain of a foot company, 1665 ; high sheriff, 1673 ; justice of the North Riding, 1675. He m. secondly, March 4, 1664-5, Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Smith (she m. secondly, Philip Carteret, governor of New Jersey, and m. thirdly. Colonel Richard Townley, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, which city was so named in her honor by her second husband), and had by her :
• 20. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, of Flushing, Long Island, d. 1719 (N. Y. Wills, ix. 152), having issue by his wife Deborah, d. 1743 (N. Y. Wills, xv. 47), daughter of Richard Smith: .... etc.
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• 17. JOHN LAWRENCE, bapt. at Abbey Church, St. Albans, January 12, 1561-2, who had by his second wife, m. January 25, 1586-7, Margaret Roberts :
• 18. THOMAS LAWRENCE, of St. Albans, second son, bapt. at St. Albans, February 2, 1588-9, d. March 20, 1624-5. He was an assistant of the borough of St Albans, 1622, and m. October 23, 1609, Joan, daughter of Walter and Joan Antrobus, of St. Albans. Joan m. secondly, John Tuthill (or Tuttell), of Ipswich, and came with him to New England in April, 1635, bringing John and William, children of her first husband, Thomas Lawrence, whose son :
• 19. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, bapt. at St. Albans, July 27, 1622, d. 1680. In 1645 he was one of the patentees of Hampstead and Flushing, Long Island. He was a magistrate of Flushing, 1655, and one of its largest land-owners ; was a member of the governor's council, 1700 ; captain of a foot company, 1665 ; high sheriff, 1673 ; justice of the North Riding, 1675. He m. secondly, March 4, 1664-5, Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Smith, and had by her :
• 20. JOSEPH LAWRENCE, of Flushing, b. 1665-8, commissioned ensign in 1684, d. April, 1759, m. 1690, Mary Townley (see the American Historical Register, February, 1896), and had : .... etc. _________________________
• Historical genealogy of the Lawrence family : from their first landing in this country, 1635 to the present date, July 4th, 1858 (1858)
• https://archive.org/details/historicalgeneal00lawr
• https://archive.org/stream/historicalgeneal00lawr#page/21/mode/1up
  • DESCENDANTS OF JOHN LAWRENCE.
• 1 John Lawrence, the eldest of the three brothers mentioned above, who emigrated to this country, was born at Great St. Alban's, Hertfordshire, England, in 1618, coming over in the ship Planter, Nicholas Travis, master, in company with Gov. Winthrop, Jr., and landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1635. He removed from thence to Ipswich, where, after residing some time, he removed to Long Island. He became, in 1644, one of the patentees of Hempstead, on that island, under grant from the Dutch governor, Kieft. He, together with his brother William, and sixteen others, in the following year, obtained the patent of Flushing from the same governor, and were also among those to whom the confirmatory patent was issued by Governor Nicoll, in February 16, 1666, to wit : John Lawrence, alderman of the city of New York ; Richard Cornhill, justice of the peace ; Charles Bridges, William Lawrence, Robert Terry, William Noble, John Ffovbush, Elias Doughty, Robert Ffield, Edmund Ffarington, John Maston, Anthony Ffield, Philip Udall, Thomas Styles, Benjamin Ffield, William Pidgeon, John Adams, John Hinckman, Nicolas Parcell, Tobias Ffeeks, and John Bowne, patentees for, and in behalf of themselves and their associates, the freeholders, inhabitants of the town of Flushing, their heirs, successors and assigns, for ever, all that certain town in the North Riding of Yorkshire, upon Long Island, called by the name of Flushing, situate, lying and being on the north side of the said island ; which said town
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• hath a certain tract of land belonging thereto, and bounded westward, beginning at the mouth of a creek, and from thence including a certain neck of land called Tew's Neck, to run eastward as far as Matthew Garrison's Bay, from the head or middle whereof a line is to be run south-east, in length about three miles, and about two miles in breadth, as the land hath been surveyed and laid out by virtue of an order made at the general meeting held at Hempstead, in the month of March, 1665 ; and that there be the same latitude in breadth on the south side as on the north, to run in two direct lines southward, to the middle of the hills, to the bounds between the said towns of Flushing and Jamaica." Removing, in 1658, from Long Island, he settled permanently at New Amsterdam. In 1663, we find him appointed by Governor Stuyvesant, one of the commissioners to treat with the General Court at Hartford, in relation to the boundaries between New England and the Dutch provinces. He was appointed, in 1665, one of the first aldermen of New York, on its incorporation under Nicolls, the first English governor after the conquest. He was also appointed, in 1672, mayor of the city of New York, and in 1674, one of his Majesty's Council, in which office he continued, by successive appointments, till 1698. He was again appointed mayor in 1691, and in 1692 judge of the Supreme Court, in which office he remained till his death in 1699, By his wife Susanna, who survived him, he had issue :
  • 2 First, Joseph, who died a widower, leaving a daughter, who died young.
  • 2 Second, John, who married Sarah, widow of Thomas Willett, first mayor of New York, by whom he had no issue.
  • 2 Third, Thomas, died unmarried.
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  • 2 Fourth, Susanna, who married Grabriel Minvielle, one of the council of the province, and mayor of New York, and, after his death, William Smith, one of the aldermen of New York. She survived both husbands, and had no issue.
  • 2 Fifth, Martha, who married Thomas Snawsell, one of the aldermen of New York, and died without issue.
  • 2 Sixth, Mary, married Willam Whittinghame, a graduate of Harvard University, in 1660 (for account of whose ancestry see collections of Historical Society of Massachusetts).
    • 3 Mary, a daughter by this marriage, distinguished by her literary acquirements, and the gifts she bestowed upon Harvard and Yale Colleges, became the wife of Gorden Saltonstall, governor of Connecticut, and died 1730. — See notice of her in Knaps Female Biography, p. 453.
  • DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM LAWRENCE.
• 1 William Lawrence, the second brother, was born at Great St. Alban's, Hertfordshire, England, in 1623. He embarked, together with his brother John, in the ship Planter, in 1635, for America. He was, in 1645, in the 22d year of his age, associated with him as one of the patentees of Flushing, on Long Island, in which town he resided during the remainder of his life. His correspondence, during the years 1642-3, with Gov. Stuyvesant, may be found among the archives at Albany, are ably written, evincing his
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• energy and decision of character, and are evidently the production of a man of superior mind and liberal education. He was the largest landed proprietor at Flushing. He resided upon Lawrence's or Tew's Neck (so called), of which he was the owner, and seemed to have been a gentleman of affluence, his sword, plate and personals alone being valued at £4,430, sterling (see inventory of his estate, on file in the Surrogate's office, city of New York, recorded in 1680, in Liber No. 22, page 24.) He was a magistrate under the Dutch government at Flushing, in 1655, and also held, under the English government, a military commission. He was also in the magistracy of the North Riding of Yorkshire, on Long Island. He was twice married. By his first wife he left issue :
  • 2 First, William, who, in 1680, married Deborah, daughter of Richard Smith, Patentee of Smithtown on Long Island. She was the youngest sister of Elizabeth, her husband's father's second wife, and had issue : .... etc.
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  • 2 John Lawrence, second son of first William, by his first wife, died in 1714, and by his first wife, Elizabeth, left issue : .... etc.
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• 1 William Lawrence, in 1664, married Elizabeth Smith, (see Appendix A,) his second wife, daughter of Richard Smith, Esq., the wealthy patentee of Smithtown, on Long Island. By this marriage he had seven children, (see Appendix B.)
  • 2 First. Mary, married 1st, --- Emmott. 2d. Rev. Edward Vaughan.
  • 2 Second. Thomas, who, in 1692, married Mary Ferguson, of Queens County.
  • 2 Third. Joseph, who, in 1690, married Mary Townley.
  • 2 Fourth. Richard, who, in 1669, married Charity,
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  • daughter of Thomas Clark, of Brookhaven, Gent., by whom he had issue : .... etc.
  • 2 Fifth. Samuel.
  • 2 Sixth. Sarah, married James Tillett.
  • 2 Seventh. James.
• 1 William Lawrence, died in 1680, (see Appendix B.) and the following year his widow, Elizabeth, (see Appendix H.) married Sir Philip Carterett, Governor of New Jersey, to which province she removed, and brought up her seven young children by her first husband (see Appendix C). Being a woman of more than ordinary endowments and strength of mind, she was entrusted with the affairs of the colony during the absence of her husband in Europe, and in the title to some of the acts of that period, it is stated that they were "Passed under the administration of Lady Carterett." Sir Philip founded Elizabethtown, in New Jersey, giving to it her name.
• Before her marriage to Sir Philip, she reserved to herself, by an instrument in writing, (see Appendix N.) the right of disposing of the lands conveyed to her by her first husband, William Lawrence, among such of her children by him as she should select ; the one selected by her was her eldest son, Joseph, to whom she conveyed an extensive tract, situated upon Little Neck Bay, in the township of Flushing. Sir Philip died in 1682, leaving the whole of his estate, situate in the Province of East New Jersey, to his widow, Elizabeth, and her heirs forever, appointing the said Elizabeth his sole executrix (see Appendix I and K). His widow, afterwards, married Col. Richard Townley, (see Appendix L.) the eighth son of Nicholas Townley, of Littleton,
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• about twelve miles from London. The said Col. Richard came over in the suite of Lord Effingham Howard, Governor of Virginia, in the year 1683, and settled in Elizabethtown. Col. Richard was one of the privy council of Deputy Governor Neil Campljell, in 1686.
• 2 Joseph Lawrence, eldest son (see Appendix E.) of the first William Lawrence and Elizabeth Smith, his second wife, afterwards Lady Cartarett, married Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Townley, son of Charles Townley, who fell at Marston Moor. At the restoration, he ....
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  • DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS LAWRENCE.
• 1 Thomas Lawrence, the youngest of the three brothers who emigrated to America, did not come over till after his two brothers, John and William ; was born about 1625. He, together with these two brothers, in the year 1655, obtained possession of a tract of a land in Newtown, on Long Island, being mentioned as patentees in the patent of that town, granted by Governor Dongan, in 1689.
• Thomas subsequently purchased the whole of Hell Gate neck, then consisting of several valuable farms, extending along the East River, from Hell Gate cove to Bowery Bay.
• On receiving the news of the Revolution in England, of 1668, and of the removal of Sir Edmund Andros as Governor of Massachusetts, the family of Thomas became decided actors in assisting the principles which had prompted his departure from England. Many persons in Queens, however, as well as Suffolk County, were not disposed to second the popular feeling which had vacated the offices at the city of New York, and placed Leisler at the head of affairs. Not discouraged at the lukewarmness of his neighbors, Thomas Lawrence, though far advanced in years, accepted the command of the forces of Queens County. William, one of his sons, was appointed one of the committee of safety, by whom the government of the colony was for a time assumed, and soon after, one of the council of the province ; an office which he subsquently held from 1702 to 1706, under a commission from Queen Ann.
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• John Lawrence, another of the sons of Thomas, had the command of the troop of horse of the county assigned to him, with his brother Daniel as cornet. John was soon afterwards appointed high sheriff of the county, to which place he was also chosen in 1698. Among the meagre records which are left of Leisler's times, is the entry of an order to Major Thomas Lawrence, dated 29th of July, 1690, "to press seventy men, horse and foot, as he shall think fit ; and horses and provisions ; and dispatch them to Southold for the defence and protection of their Majesties' subjects there." The misconception or obstinacy, whichever it was, that influenced Leisler in delaying to surrender the fort at New York to Governor Slaughter on his arrival, involved all the members of his council in the consequences of this omission ; and William Lawrence with the rest of them, were seized and committed, on a charge of high treason. John Lawrence, his uncle, who, from the caution of age, or a disapprobation of the violence of some of Liesler's proceedings, had never countenanced his elevation, was appointed on the commission with Sir Thomas Robinson, Col. William Smith, and others, to try those political offenders. These proceedings do not appear, however, to have interrupted the mutual confidence and affection of the uncle and nephew.
• The descendants of Thomas Lawrence (being the Newtown branch of the family) are very numerous, residing in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and other States of the Union. He died at Newtown, in July, 1703 ; leaving five sons, to wit :
  • 2 First, Thomas, who married Mrs. Francina Smith, widow of M. Smith, and had issue : .... etc.
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  • 2 Second, William, son of the first Thomas Lawrence.
  • 2 Third, John, who alone remained permanently at Newtown, and married Deborah, daughter of Richard Woodhull, one of the patentees of Brookhaven, closed his life December 17th, 1729, his wife surviving him about twelve years, he left three sons : .... etc.
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  • 2 Daniel Lawrence, the fourth son of the first Thomas, Lawrence, removed early from Newtown.
  • 2 Jonathan Lawrence, the fifth son of the first Thomas, married and had issue : .... etc. __________________________

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