Lawrence, John Burling (1844–1929)

1844–1929

Parents: George Newbold Lawrence (1806–1895) and Mary Ann Newbold (1808–1895).
Spouse: Katherine Dilworth Wisner (1847–1920).
Children: Wisner Lawrence (1871–1873) and Mary Newbold Lawrence (1874–1956).
Kinship: First cousin four times removed of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Biography:

John Burling Lawrence was born in 1844, the son of the noted ornithologist George Newbold Lawrence. He became a drug and chemical merchant and was associated with Schieffelin & Co., the successor firm to Lawrence & Schieffelin. He served as a vice-president of the company and remained connected with it during its transition to the succeeding generation of Schieffelins. His fortune was derived principally from his long association with Schieffelin & Co. and from Manhattan real estate holdings.

He occupied a prominent place in New York society. A vestryman of Trinity Church, he was also a member of the Metropolitan and Church Clubs and of the St. Nicholas Society. In 1902 his daughter Mary married Heth Lorton, and he presented her with a house at 62 East 54th Street as a wedding gift. Contemporary reports styled her the heiress to his fortune of $7,000,000, a very large sum for the time.

In 1909 he and Emlen Lawrence sold the last parcel of land that the Lawrence family owned in Manhattanville, closing a connection to that district which the family had maintained since the early nineteenth century. John Burling Lawrence died in 1929.