Lawrence, Albert Effingham (1851–1923)

1851–1923

Parents: Effingham Nicholl Lawrence (1815–1889) and Margaret Clendenning Buckley (1816–1897).
Spouse: Rebecca Elizabeth Spooner (1851–1943).
Children: Margaret Alden Lawrence (1879–1951), Effingham Nicholl Lawrence (1887–1963), Winifred Hentz Lawrence (1891–1972).
Kinship: Third cousin three times removed of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Early Life and Family Background Albert Effingham Lawrence was born into the long–established Lawrence family of New York. His father, Effingham Nicholl Lawrence, was a businessman active in the storage and handling of imported goods, and Albert followed him into that line of work.

Career Lawrence entered the firm of his father, known as Lawrence, Son & Gerish, a storage warehouse business specializing in imported merchandise. The business was typical of the Lawrence family’s participation in New York’s mercantile life, especially in industries connected with shipping and foreign trade. Albert later moved to Yonkers in the 1880s. Due to declining health, he retired from business earlier than he might otherwise have done.

Affiliations and Interests He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, continuing a pattern of civic and fraternal engagement common among Lawrence men of his generation. He also belonged to the New York Entomological Society, indicating an interest in scientific pursuits at a time when amateur natural history societies flourished in the New York metropolitan area.

Death Albert Effingham Lawrence died in 1923. His widow, Rebecca Elizabeth Spooner, survived him by two decades and died in 1943.