Lawrence, John W.

John William Blount Lawrence (1815–1909), lawyer, soldier, land agent, and notary public, was born in North Carolina. In 1837 he and his family moved to Florida where Lawrence had an unsuccessful career as a cotton speculator. After moving to Houston in 1841, Lawrence served in a Milam County volunteer army during the Rafael Vásquez invasion before attending law school. He voted for annexation in 1845 while practicing law in Matagorda. In 1847 he moved back to Houston to work for land agent Jacob de Cordova and later for James Morgan in the investigation of land titles.

During the Civil War, Lawrence served as captain of a company of Harris County home guards and worked to commission Texas troops across the state line in Louisiana. In 1866 Lawrence acted for a short time as assistant assessor of internal revenue for Harris County but soon resigned and went back to his land business.

Lawrence partnered in the law firms of Lawrence & Clarke, Lawrence & Edwards, and Lawrence & Son. He married Louisa J. (Mrs. William Milton) Tyron, and they had one son, John R. Lawrence.

Source : Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. Lawrence, John W., http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/LL/fla55.html (accessed May 27, 2010).

From the guide to the Lawrence, John W. Papers, 1834-1933, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)