Parents: Judge Effingham Lawrence (1779–1850) and Anne Townsend (1782–1845) Spouse: Sarah Van Dyne in 1840.

Children: None recorded. Kinship: Third great-granduncle of the post–World War II Smith generation

Early Life and Family Background Frederick Arthur Lawrence was born into the well-established Lawrence–Townsend family of Flushing, Long Island. His father, Judge Effingham Lawrence, was a respected figure in local public life, and the family was connected to many of the most prominent old New York and Long Island families.

Career Frederick became a lawyer and appears to have practiced in New York. Though not a major public figure, he was well known in legal and social circles.

Private Life and Health Frederick’s later years were marked by declining health. He suffered from a combination of painful ailments, for which he made use of morphine and opium, both commonly prescribed in the nineteenth century. As often happened in that era, the drugs to relieve pain led to dependence and depressive episodes.

Death Newspapers reported that he died by suicide, stating that “He committed suicide by blowing his brains out. He was afflicted by a complication of diseases and suffered excruciating pain. The excessive use of morphine and opium to alleviate pain threw him into fits of melancholy, in one of which he committed the act.” He died in 1882.

Legacy Frederick’s tragic end was noted in the press as an early illustration of the dangers of opiate dependency, long before the addictive effects of such drugs were fully understood.