Lawrence, John Smith II (1860–1903)

1860–1903

Parents: John Smith Lawrence (1818–1880) and Sarah Elizabeth Mauran (1823–1878).
Spouse: Sarah Ray Wynn (1864–1904).
Children: John Smith Lawrence III (1882–1945), Sarah Ray “Dimple” Lawrence (1884–1902), [Infant Lawrence] (died in infancy), Margaret Mauran Lawrence (1894–1967), and Anna Schiller Lawrence (1897–1988).
Kinship: Sixth cousin four times removed of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Biography:

John Smith Lawrence II was born in 1860, the son of John Smith Lawrence, a respected New York lawyer, and Sarah Elizabeth Mauran. He inherited a considerable sum from his father. He entered the oyster trade and served as an agent supplying oysters to hotels and restaurants in New York City. He lived in Lawrence and later in Hempstead, Long Island.

In August 1903, the bodies of his daughter Sarah Ray “Dimple” Lawrence and Clarence Foster were discovered in Shinnecock Bay near Good Ground. Louis A. Disbrow was accused in the widely reported case. (See Sarah Ray Lawrence for a full treatment.) After the death of his daughter, John Smith Lawrence II went into a rapid decline and died a few months later, in 1903.