Samuel Lawrence, Early New York Representative, & the Lawrence Family Manuscript Archive 

An extensive archive of approximately 67 documents of the noted Lawrence family of New York, spanning the years 1799 to 1908. Dealing primarily with Congressman Samuel Lawrence (1773-1837), but also concerning among other things the sea trade of Samuel’s uncle, captain Andrew Lawrence, from 1799 to 1801 on the brigs America, Fair Columbian, and Anna Elizabeth.

The nautical items include the 1799 sworn testimony of Captain Andrew Lawrence of his witnessing the grounding of the ship Grand Turk in a nighttime gale on the reefs off Mango Key, and his rescue of the captain and crew; entry papers for the brig America for the ports of Guadeloupe and Kingston, Jamaica; several documents concerning the wine trade in Spain, including a May 1800 contract with a Spanish wine merchant for a cargo of red wine (paying in silver reals); and an employment contract for a crew for the brig America’s voyage to Spain and back, stopping in Madeira. Other sea-related items are a September 1813 letter to Samuel describing the American privateers Scourge and Rattlesnake preying on British shipping around Norway in the War of 1812 and a December 3, 1822, issue of the National Intelligencer, featuring a front page account of the USS Alligator single-handedly tackling a pirate squadron off the coast of Cuba and rescuing five captured American ships and their crews.

Many letters in this archive revolve around the lengthy fight starting in 1816 between the Lawrences and the local government, concerning the seizure of part of their land in Greenwich to lengthen 8th Avenue. These letters include hand-drawn plats of the area in question. Other letters from 1815 concern the scarcity of goods for the Lawrences’ businesses in upper New York state, caused by the embargo in the War of 1812, but also the explosion in population of the area. Another interesting set of documents are the original contract, including floor plans, for the construction of the mansion known as the Lawrence Homestead and now known as the Fontainebleau Inn on Lake Cayuta in what was then Tioga County, New York. Perhaps the most interesting business-related document is an 1824 award of $18,920.52 to Lawrence for a spoliation claim against the government of Spain under the terms of the Adam-Oniz Treaty. This may be from seizures of ships and/or cargoes during the war of 1812, since the Lawrences were involved in the Spanish wine trade.

Several documents relate to the disposition of the estate of Jonathan Lawrence, Samuel’s father. In addition to inventories of the estate, there is an 1817 contract signed by the other heirs selling their partial claims to the slave Thomas Henry to Samuel, signed and sealed by John, Albert, Joseph and William Lawrence. There is also a certified copy of the 1875 will of Samuel Richardson, uncle to Samuel Lawrence’s son, also named Samuel.

State political items include the November 9, 1816, appointment of Samuel as a Presidential elector for New York, signed by Governor Daniel D. Tompkins; and a November 10, 1820, letter from Richard Riker, Recorder of New York City and a relative of Lawrence’s mother, thanking Lawrence for ending the evils which have marked the Clinton administration (curious for the fact that in 1802, Riker was Clinton’s second in a duel stemming from the Hamilton/Burr duel).

Documents from Lawrence’s career as Congressman include three printed dinner invitations from Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and his wife for balls in Washington, DC, given on January 8, 18, and February 19, 1824; a January 6, 1824, letter from Lawrence to his wife from Washington, DC, on the difficulty in getting a Congressional caucus assembled to nominate a candidate for President (William H. Crawford would eventually get the nod for the contentious 1824 election); and a December 23, 1823, ALS from John McLean as Postmaster General regarding the establishment of a new post office in Lawrence’s home district. A copy of the Statesman newspaper of New York City, dated July 16, 1824, contains a long article about the heated public disagreements between the President (Monroe) and his Secretary of State (John Q. Adams).

There are several private letters from Samuel to his wife, both from Albany as an Assemblyman of New York, and as Congressman, many with free franks. One letter warns his wife that their son has run away from his grandfather’s house due to being punished for habitual truancy, and is on his way home. Other personal papers include a December 19, 1835, New York City letter from Jonathan Lawrence to Samuel regarding the Great Fire of New York and the losses sustained by the family; and a large May 20, 1858, passport document for Jonathan S. Lawrence to travel in the Empire of Austria, signed by US consul in Trieste, William A. Buffum.

Dr G.H. Butler married the granddaughter of Samuel Lawrence, Henrietta, who was the last Lawrence blood relative to live in the mansion on Cayuta Lake. Butler papers include two 1869 letters of recommendation from Civil War commanders regarding his medical skill, an 1886 ANS from Dublin Castle by John Bernard Burke of Burke’s Peerage, and a manuscript treatment on the Arms of the Butler family, also signed by Burke as Ulster King of Arms. Another genealogical document is a Lawrence family tree starting with an ancestor who was a Crusader at Acre in 1191, and ending at 1838.

Associated items include two partial letters, one apparently dated February 22, 1603, and bearing the signature of Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst; and the other, a partial document thought to date from around the same time and contain the names of early settlers of Nantucket, including Thomas Coffin. There are three Albert Gallatin-related items: a printed 1806 policy letter to Congress regarding the public lands in the Indiana Territory, a lithograph, and an August 1802 ALS as Secretary of the Treasury with integrated free frank. Another curious piece is a recipe for the mass curing of hams (10 hams of about 6# each), annotated on reverse as being from Governor John Jay of New York! The last item is a blistering two-page letter written on election day in 1908 by William McKay, excoriating the despotic rule of Theodore Roosevelt.