Bogert, Henry Lawrence (1857-1933)

1857-1933

Parents: Henry Augustine Bogert (1827–1905) and Mary Bowne Lawrence (1830–1898).
Spouse: Carrie Lawrence Osgood (1859–1924).
Children: Caroline Lawrence Bogert (1881–1942), Henry Lawrence Bogert Jr. (1883–1965), and Edward Osgood Bogert (1894–1956).
Kinship: In addition to being descended from the Lawrences, he is the husband of Carrie Lawrence Osgood, the third cousin three times removed of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Early Life and Education Henry Lawrence Bogert was born in New York City in 1857, a member of the long-established Dutch–English professional families that formed the civic elite of nineteenth-century New York. He was educated at the Flushing Institute, one of the leading private academies of Queens County, and entered Columbia College, where he received his A.B. in 1878. At Columbia he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity and active in student literary and debating societies, as were several of his Bogert and Lawrence cousins.

Legal Career After graduation, Bogert read law in the office of his father, Henry Augustine Bogert, counsel for the New York Life Insurance Company and a leading figure in the Queens County bar. Admitted to practice in New York, Henry Lawrence developed a specialty in trust, title, and insurance law, continuing the family’s professional association with New York Life and serving as both counselor and trustee to several financial institutions.

His work was characterized by the meticulous research typical of the Bogert legal tradition; he was known for his knowledge of land titles and estate law, which were essential to the city’s expanding urban property system in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Civic and Religious Involvement A lifelong resident of Flushing, Henry Lawrence Bogert was active in local affairs, serving on boards related to education and church life. Like his father, he was a vestryman of St. George’s Episcopal Church, Flushing, where generations of the Bogert and Lawrence families were baptized and buried. He later became affiliated with the Collegiate Reformed Church of New York, maintaining the family’s ancestral connection to the Dutch Reformed tradition. He was also a dedicated member of the Holland Society of New York, serving as an officer and helping to preserve the history of the city’s early Dutch settlers.

Marriage and Family Connections In 1880, he married Carrie Lawrence Osgood (1859–1924), daughter of Edward Osgood and Caroline Lawrence, further intertwining the Bogert, Osgood, and Lawrence families. Their daughter, Caroline Lawrence Bogert (1881–1942), continued the pattern of family alliances. Their eldest son, Henry Lawrence Bogert Jr. (1883–1965), followed the family professional path as an attorney and civic leader. Their youngest son, Edward Osgood Bogert (1894–1956), served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I.

Later Life and Legacy Henry Lawrence Bogert maintained his law practice into the early 1930s, remaining active in Columbia alumni affairs and professional societies. He was remembered for his quiet dignity, professional integrity, and devotion to education and public service—traits that had characterized his family for generations.

He died on March 5, 1933, and was interred with his family in Flushing Cemetery.