Legendary and Misattributed Origins

For centuries, imaginative genealogists embellished the remote ancestry of the Lawrences. Because the Roman family of the Laurentii existed, some assumed that the English Lawrences must descend from them. Others linked the family to various prominent medieval or early modern Lawrences simply because of the shared surname.

A recurring tradition claimed descent from a Sir Robert Lawrence of Ashton Hall, said to have “planted the banner of the Cross on the battlements of St. Jean d’Acre” during the Third Crusade and to have received knighthood and arms from Richard the Lionheart. His descendants supposedly included Sir James Lawrence, who married Matilda Washington; a Lawrence Washington who purchased the Mount Vernon estate and left it to his half-brother George Washington; and a Henry Lawrence (1600–1664), a political leader during the English Civil War and one of the patentees of Connecticut in 1635.

These associations are interesting possibilities for connecting the American Lawrences to wider English and Colonial history, but no reliable evidence links these individuals to the Long Island Lawrences.

Proven English Origins

The earliest ancestor who can be identified with reasonable certainty is John Lawrence, chief burgess of St. Albans in 1553 and mayor of that city from 1567 to 1575. He married Katerin Beaumont. Their son John married Margaret Robertes in 1586; they had Thomas Lawrence. The family was already established in St. Albans, and the speed with which they succeeded in the colonies suggests they may have brought both capital and political acumen from England.

Emigration to New England

The earliest fully documented ancestral line begins with Thomas Lawrence (1589–1625) of St. Albans, Hertfordshire. He married Joan Antrobus (1592–1659) and had three sons:

• William Lawrence (1622–1689) • Thomas Lawrence (1619–1703) • Joseph Lawrence (1618–1667)

Thomas died in England. His widow Joan married John Tuttle (1596–1656), and the entire combined family sailed to Massachusetts on the Planter in 1635 with Gov. Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. From this point forward, documentation is far more secure, though the frequent repetition of the name John Lawrence occasionally causes confusion.

Early American Settlement and Prosperity

The Lawrences appear to have arrived with some means and, soon after moving to Long Island, became among the wealthiest families in New Netherland. They quickly rose in political and commercial life.

They were either already inclined toward Quakerism before leaving England or attached themselves to the Society of Friends soon after arrival. They were associated with the early Quaker communities in Flushing, Long Island, and intermarried with many of the prominent Quaker families of that meeting.

By 1770, the family had accumulated enough wealth and stability that Jonathan Lawrence retired to a house once owned by his great-grandfather, Thomas Lawrence the Settler.

Reputation, Finance, and Public Trust

Quaker families earned reputations for honesty, and the Lawrences became trusted in commercial and financial matters. Members of the family were involved in the founding of the New York Stock Exchange, and several served as its presidents. Their stability reinforced this trust: Lawrence families tended to remain in the same houses for generations, one member even dying at an advanced age in the same room in which he had been born.

Marriage Patterns and Interconnections

The Lawrences followed the biblical injunction to “be fruitful and multiply” with enthusiasm. Ten or more children per household was not uncommon, and many survived to adulthood. As a result, Lawrence cousins frequently married each other, intertwining lineages. Early Quaker discipline opposed cousin marriages, prompting some Lawrences to leave Friends and join other churches, notably the Episcopal Church.

The families into which the Lawrences married often treated the connection as prestigious and repeated the Lawrence name across generations. An English collateral line, the Jones baronets, even adopted the hyphenated surname Lawrence-Jones.

Social Standing in New York

The Lawrences were among the seventeenth-century elite of New Amsterdam and stood among the oldest families of New York, comparable to old Dutch merchant families. In the nineteenth century, they intermarried with other long-established families, including the Alexandre family, adding a Catholic line to the broader kin network. They made fewer alliances with the nouveau riche of the Gilded Age, though some marriages connected them with the Vanderbilts and similar families.

Upon reading Edith Wharton, one Lawrence descendant exclaimed, “These are my people!”—a remark that captures the family’s affinity with the old, understated New York elite rather than the ostentatious climbers of the Gilded Age.

Public Role and Character

The Lawrences were prominent in New York life but less so on the national political stage. Apart from Captain James Lawrence of “Don’t give up the ship!” fame—whose relationship to the Long Island Lawrences is doubtful—the family name rarely appears in standard American history texts. Their influence was more often exercised in the second tier of American society: finance, commerce, and civic life. Their legacy ranges from the New York Stock Exchange to architectural contributions to the White House.

The Lawrences and Slavery

Family members stood on both sides of the slavery question. In general, they advocated gradual manumission rather than immediate abolition, though some owned enslaved people and defended the institution. They tended to avoid public extremes or confrontational politics, likely because such conflicts threatened commercial relationships that extended across religious and political boundaries.

Descent to the Post–World War II Smith Generation

All direct descendants of Thomas Lawrence (1589–1625) are cousins. Because cousin marriages occurred frequently, many modern descendants are related to the Lawrences through multiple lines. Ancestry.com often prefers to describe such connections by elaborate in-law relationships rather than the more accurate repeated cousinships. In this encyclopedia, the relationships are described as Ancestry.com presents them to Mary Elizabeth Alexandre Smith Podles, the representative of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Her siblings are: Kennedy Smith, Edward Caldwell Smith, Frederick Alexandre Smith, Mark Smith, and Anne Templeton Smith.

Line of Descent:

Thomas Lawrence to Mary Elizabeth Smith

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Gen. 1 – Thomas Lawrence (1589–1625)

Gen. 2 – William Lawrence (1622–1680), son of Thomas

Gen. 3 – Joseph Lawrence (1668–1759), son of William

Gen. 4 – Richard Henry Lawrence (1691–1781), son of Joseph

Gen. 5 – John Lawrence (1732–1794), son of Richard Henry

Gen. 6 – John Burling Lawrence (1774–1844), son of John

Gen. 7 – Edward Newbold Lawrence (1805–1839), son of John Burling

Gen. 8 – Frederick Newbold Lawrence (1834–1916), son of Edward Newbold

Gen. 9 – Elizabeth Boyce Lawrence (1862–1906), daughter of Frederick Newbold

Gen.10 – Mary Elizabeth Alexandre (1894–1970), daughter of Elizabeth Boyce Lawrence

Gen.11 – Mary Elizabeth Rutter (1920–2003), daughter of Mary Elizabeth Alexandre

Gen.12 – Mary Elizabeth Alexandre Smith (1951– ), daughter of Mary Elizabeth Rutter

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