John LAWRENCE, VIII

   Another name for John was Joseph.

   Ancestral File Number: 24V3-6G. User ID: 2320.

   General Notes:

Immigrated Wisset Suffolk England >Watertown Massachusetts Abt 1630/1635
Removed to Groton Massachusetts 1662, Member of the First recorded Board of
Selectmen of Groton, Freeman.

BOOKS
A Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England, John Farmer, Genealogical Publishing Co, Lancaster MA 1829, p174 JOHN LAWRENCE, Watertown, freeman 1637, whose wife was Elizabeth, had children...Peleg, born 11 Jan 1648.

The Lawrence Chase Townly Estate The Mystery Solved, Frank Alden Hall, Rand Avery Co, Boston, 1888, p18:
"...The Lawrence Family traces back to Ashton Hall in 1191...Brothers William and John immigrated in 1635 on the 'Planter'...John Lawrence settled in Watertown..."

Genealogy of theFamily of John Lawrence, John Lawrence, S K Whipple and Co, Boston, 1857, p1:
"John Lawrence of Watertown MA is supposed to have come to this country early in 1635. [?It is probable that he came in the ship Planter, bound for New England,having received a certificate from the minister of Great St Albans Hertfordshire. He may, therefore, be regarded as a native of St Albans, born in 1617-1618; but by what parents is not known.] The name of his wife was Elizabeth; by whom he hadthirteen children, born at Watertown. About 1660, he removed with his family to Groton MA, where his wife Elizabeth died, 29 Aug 1663. His second wife, whom he married 2 Nov 1664, was Susanna Batchelder, dau of William Batchelder of Charleston,by whom he had two daughters. He died at Groton, 11 Jul 1667. The widow Susanna Lawrence died 8 Jul 1668..." Genealogies, Families, and Descendants of Early Settlers of Watertown MA, Vol I, Genealogies, Henry Bond MD, Boston, Little Brown &Co, 1855, p819:
"(I.) John Lawrence settled in Watertown probably in 1635 as his eldest child was born there 14 Mar 1635/1636. His name is on the earliest list of proprietors extant, and he was adm freeman 17 Apr 1637. The date of his arrival in Americal has not been ascertained nor is it known whether he was married before or after his arrival. Nothing has yet been ascertained from American records or archives with respect to his parentage or ancestry. It has been supposed thathe was the John Lawrence of great St Albans Hertfordshire who embarked in the 'Planter' for New England in 1635, then aged 17 years. This is evidently a mistake, as the passenger in the Planter was only 19 years old when John Lawrence of Watertown was admitted freeman...
"By his first wife Elizabeth he had 12 children all born between his settlement in Watertown and his removal to Groton whither he moved in the autumn of 1662. His wife, Elizabeth d there the next summer 29 Aug1663 and he m (2d) 2 Nov 1664 Susanna Batchelder dau of William Batchelder of Charlestown. He d 11 Jul 1667 and his wid Susanna d 8 Jul 1668. His Will dated 24 Apr, proved 1 Oct 1667, appoints his wife and sons Nathaniel and Joseph ex'rs; mentions sons Enoch, Samuel, Isaac, Jonathan, and Zechariah; of the three at home. Elizabeth 'to live with Mr Ensigne Buss of Concord til of age; the other two Enoch and Zechariah be trust to Samuel Willard and William Lakin til of age.' To his dauMary he gave only half a portion with the rest 'to teach her a remembrance of her disobedience and unfaithfulness to me in by distress.' [She had married two days before the decase of her mother.] Inventory L278 0s 4d, house and 10 acres of land from the street to the hill taking an equal breadth apprized at L60. The Will of his wid Susanna dated at Charlestown July, proved 16 Dec 1668 mentions her two dau Abigail and Susanna; her father and mother Bachelder; two sisters Rachel Atwood and Abigail Asting; her father Bachelder and brother Atwood of Malden ex'rs.
"[Figure: Signature of John Lawrence to his Will.
"The date of his removal to Groton is determined with sufficient precision by the following facts. 23 Oct1662, he sold land in Watertown to John Barnard. 27 Oct 1662 he sold another lot to William Page and on the same day another lot to William Page, and on the same day another lot to Joseph Underwood, and on the same day he sold to John Biscoe his homestead in Watertown, a dwelling house etc and about thirteen acres 'being the now mansion-house of said John Lawrence,' bounded on the E by the highway; N by Timothy Hawkins and John Hammond; W by the meadow of said Biscoe; S by land of John Flemming, deceased; wid. Dix and her sonne; wid Bartlett, and said Biscoe. In Dec 1662 'meet men were found amongst the inhabitants [of Groton], when Dea James Parker, John Lawrence, William Martin, Richard Blood, and James Fiske, were chosen selectmen' [Butler, p17]. His early admission as freeman, and this election to the first board of selectmen of Groton, show that he was well known, and of good repute. According to the list of possessions in Watertown in 1642, he then owned7 lots, amounting to 154 1/2 acres. In legal instruments he was designated a carpenter, although, from the amount of his land, it might be presumed that he was chiefly devoted to agriculture. The birth of his dau Elizabeth is recorded in Bostonand as no births of his family are recorded in in Watertown from 1649 until 1659, perhaps he resided in Boston several years in the exercise of his trade. Children:
15.2.1. John b 14 Mar 1635/1636. He is not mentioned in his father's Will, and it might therefore be concluded trhat he was deceased and without issue. But it is to be observed that he does not mention his son Peleg nor his daus Abigail and Susanna, who are known to have been then living. We shall assume that he was then living until there is some evidence to disprove it and that he had a family.
2. Jonathan buried 6 Apr 1648.
23.3.3. Nathaniel b 15 Oct 1639, an executor of his father's Will, adm freeman 15 May 1672.
4. Joseph b Mar, d May 1642.
4.5. Joseph b 30 May 1643, and ex'r of his father's Will, adm freeman 15 May 1672; m 1670/1671 ?Rebecca ____. He was probably the Joesph Lawrence who, by wife Rebecca had dau Rebecca Bap in the 1st Church of Boston 1 Feb 1679/ 1680, and who d 14 Nov 1685. It is conjectured that the persons making the following Will were his wife and daughter. The Will of Rebecca Lawrence (?of Boston) date 18 Jul, proved 12 Dec 1726, gives her estate to her mother Rebecca. The Will of wid Rebecca Lawrence, dated 27 Sep, proved 11 Oct 1731...
5.6. Mary b 16 Jul 1645, d 1686/1687, m 25 Aug 1663, Inego Potter of Charlestown...
32.6.7. Peleg b 10 Jan 1646/1647.
41.7.8. Enoch b 5 Mar 1648/1649.
8.9. Samuel, mentioned in his father's Will; probably the one who m 14 Sep 1682 Rebecca Luen of Charlestown. It is conjectured that he moved to Connecticut.
9.10. Isaac, mentioned in his father's Will; m 19 Apr 1682 Abigail Bellows b in Concord 6 May 1661, dau of John and Mary (Wood) Bellows...Isaac Lawrence and wife Abigail of Morwich CT heirs of their uncle Dea Isaac Woods of Marlboro executed a deed 26 Feb 1718/1719.
10.11. Elizabeth b in Boston 9 May 1655.
11.12. Jonathan, mentioned in his father's Will. He d 1725. Perhaps he was the one who m in Cambridge 5 Nov 1677 Rebecca Rutter. If so they d. s. p., for Jonathan of Groton in his Will does not mention wife or children; but he gave to the town of Groton L100, to the Church of Christ in Groton L40 to be laid out for the procurring some silver vessel or vessels for the churche's use, as they shall order. Also L20 the income to be annually paid or accounted for to the settled or ordained minister.
12.13. Zechariah b inWatertown 9 Mar 1658/1659. He was probably the Zechariah Lawrence of Boston, mariner, master of the 'Success,' against whom a suit for wages was brought in 1691.
"By 2d wife, Susanna:
13.14. Abigail b in Groton 9 Jan 1665/1666.
15.15. Susanna b 3 Jul 1667, eight days before the d of her father."

17th Century Colonial Ancestors of Members of the National Society of Colonial Dames XVII Century 1915-1975, Mary Louise Marshall Hutton, Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Company Inc, 1987, p153:
"John Lawrence (1609-1667) MA, m. Elizabeth ---; Susanna Batchelder, Freeman."

Famous Families of Massachusetts, Vol II, Mary Caroline Crawford, Little Brown and Co, Boston, 1930, Chap 34, The Lawrence Family
p176:"...one is realy familiarizing oneself with a large cross-section of Massachusetts achievements since that day, in 1635, when John Lawrence, the first of the name in this country, set up his home in Watertown, Massachusetts, married a wife, whose name was Elizabeth and became the father of thirteen children.
"Wissett in Suffolk was the native parish of John Lawrence, and some genealogists have traced his ancestry through sixteen generations of knights, squires, and hardy yeomento Sir Robert Lawrence of Ashton Hall, Lancashire, who was knighted by King Richard, the Lion-Hearted, for gallant conduct at the siege of Acre when the city of Syria was recovered from the Saracens by the knights of the Third Crusade. The father of the John Lawrence who settled in Watertown was Nicholas Lawrence and he, according to researches made under the direction of Colonel T Bigelow Lawrence, was the youngest of a Sir Robert Lawrence, himself of the seventh generation from the hero of the Crusades, who represented Lancashire in Parliament during the first decade of the fifteenth century.
"In 1662, John Lawrence removed from Watertown to Groton, Massachusetts, where he was an original land proprietor, having atwenty-acre right. He also served on the first Board of Groton Selectmen of whose election we have an authentic record..."

Genealogy of the Lawrence Family, from their First Landing in this Country AD 1635 to the Present Date July 4th 1858, Thomas Lawrence, New York, Edward O Jenkins, 1858. [NB: this is a different John Lawrence..CGA]
p2O: "While the Dutch were prosecuting their settlements on Long Island and in New York, the English settlers slowly infused themselves among theDutch population of the island; among which were three brothers, John, William, and Thomas Lawrence, ancestors of a numerous and enterprising family in this country. These three brothers, as well as the above Henry Lawrence, were all descendedfrom John Lawrence, who died in 1538, and was buried in the Abbey of Ransay. In corroboration of the relationship between Henry Lawrence and the above named brothers, we find on the seals appended to their wills, now on file at New York, and on old plate still possessed by their descendants, the same crest and arms as those upon the tomb of the lord president."
p21: "Descendants of John Lawrence."
"1. John Lawrence, the eldest of the three brothers mentioned above, who emigrated to this country, was born at Great St Alban's, Hertfordshire, England, in 1618, coming over in the ship Planter, Nicholas Travis, master, in company with Gov. Winthrop, Jr., and landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1635. He removed from thence to Ipswich, where, after residing some time, he removed to Long Island. He became, in 1644, one of the patentees of Hempstead, on that island, under grant from the Dutch governor, Kieft. He together with his brother William, and sixteen others, in the following year, obtained the patent of Flushing from the same governor, and were also among those to whom the confirmatory patent was issued by Governor Nicoll, in February 16, 1666, to wit: John Lawrence, alderman of the cityof New York..."

Pedigree of Lawrence Compiled from Heralds' Visitations, Inquisitions Post Mortem, Deeds, Charters, Wills, Parish Registers, and other Original Manuscripts H G Somerby Esq Boston CS71.L42 1856:
"Henry Lawrence of Wisset Named in his father's will; probably came to New England and settled in Charlestown...Mar Mary...Parents of John Lawrence baptized at Wisset Oct 8, 1609; came to New England in 1630, and settled at Watertown. In 1662 he removed to Groton, where he died July 11, 1667, aged 58. He is named in a deposition of his brother Robert, dated 1639, as of New England."

Barber Genealogy, Sect I Descendants of Thomas Barber of Windsor Connecticut 1614-1909, Sect II Descendants of John Barber of Worcester Massachusetts 1714-1909, Publ John Barber White, Ed Lillian May Wilson, Haverhill Mass, Press of the Nichols Print, 1909, clxiv 659p 24cm, 10-11369, CS71.B24 1909, Descendants of Thomas Barber of Windsor Connecticut 1614-1909.
p86:"Sarah Lawrence's sister, Prentice Lawrence, married Jacob Barber (No. 239) a cousin of David. Sarah and Prentice Lawrence were descended from John Lawrence of Watertown, Mass., a summary of the lineage being as follows:
"John Lawrence, son of Henry and Mary L. Lawrence of Wisset, Eng., bp. Oct 8, 1609. Came to Watertown, Mass. He was descended in the 17th generation from Robert, b. 1150, who was Crusader with Richard Couer de Lion. He distinguished himself at the Siege of Acre,and knighted, Sir Robert of Ashton Hall. His son, "Peleg Lawrence, b. Jan 10, 1646; m. 1668, Elizabeth Morse, who was b. Sep 1, 1647; lived at Groton, Mass. He d. 1692. Their son,
"Samuel Lawrence, b. Oct 16, 1671; m. Abigail -------. Hed. Mar 1712. They lived at Killingly, Conn. Their son,
"Samuel Lawrence, b. 1711; m. Patience Bigelow, who was b. June 25, 1717. He d. Apr 10, 1793. They lived at Killingly, and Simsbury, Conn.
Their daughters,
"Sarah, b. July 31, 1750; m. David Barber (No. 228).
"Prentice, b. -------; m. Jacob Barber (No. 239)."

A Genealogical Memoir of the Families of Lawrences with a Direct Male Line from Sir Robert Lawrence of Lancashire AD 1190 down to John Lawrence of Watertown AD 1636, Mercy Hale, Boston, 1856, p3:
"...Henry, also of Wisset, who had two sons, John and Robert. John, the eldest, was baptized October 8, 1609, and about the year 1630, came to New England, (probably with his father,) and settledat Watertown, from whence he removed to Groton, where he died July 11, 1661, aged 58. From his second son, Nathaniel, who was born at Watertown in 1639, descended the subject of our notice."

Genealogical Memoir of the Family of John Lawrenceof Watertown, Press of Coolidge and Wiley, 1847/John Wilson and Son, 1857.
p5: Definition, Usage, Name...
p6: English Branches...
p12: Coat of Arms...
p17: John Lawrence (1)...
p18: Peleg (8)...
p20: Samuel (27) b 16 Oct 1671...

INTERNET
http://www.winthropsociety.org/shipndx4.htm
"Winthrop Society
"Index of Some Passengers to New England, 1633 - 1635
"...John LAWRENCE 17 yo 'Planter' 1635 Roll #17..."

ANCESTRY.COM 13 Aug 2000
Database: THE PIONEERS OF MASSACHUSETTS,
LAWRENCE, John, carpenter, Watertown, propr., 1636, frm. April 17, 1637. He deposed 20 (1) 1657, ae. about 35 years. [Mdx. Deeds] He sold mansion and land at Wat. in 1662 and rem. to Groton. Wife Elizabeth d. Aug. 29, 1663, and he m. Susanna, dau. of Wm. Bachiler of Charlestown. Ch. John b. 14 (1) 1635, Nathaniel b. 15 (8) 1639, Joseph b. and d. 1642, Joseph b. 30 (3) 1643, Jonathan bur. 6 (2) 1643, Mary b. 16 (5) 1645, Peleg b. 10 (11) 1647, Enos b. 5 (1) 1648, Zechariah b. 9 (1) 1658.
He d. July 11, 1667; the widow d. July 8, 1668. In his will he appoints his wife and sons Nathaniel and Joseph execs.; names also ch. Enoch, Samuel, Isaac, Jonathan, Zechariah, Elizabeth and Mary; the widow in her will adds daus. Abigail and Susanna, her own children; beq. to her sisters Rachel Atwood and Abigail Asting.

THE PIONEERS OF MASSACHUSETTS
LAWRENCE, Henry, Charlestown, propr. before 1638. Christian, [his widow?] with her son John sold house and land July 22, 1646. This John deposed 4 (4) 1639, ae. 24 years. The widow d. March 3, 1647-8.

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.13 24V3-6G John (Joseph) LAWRENCE.

Ancestral File Ver 4.19: John (Joseph) LAWRENCE (AFN: 24V3-6G) Sex M, Born 8 Oct 1609 Wisset Suffolk England, Christened 8 Oct 1609 Wisset Norwich Suffolk England, Married Spouse: Elizabeth COOKE (AFN: 92C6-Q6) 1635 Watertown Suffolk MA, Elizabeth WATERS (AFN: 8THR-1V) Abt 1635 Watertown Suffolk MA, Elizabeth UNKNOWN (AFN: 1T8G-M5S), Elizabeth UNKNOWN (AFN: 1TNP-9TF), Elizabeth UNKNOWN (AFN: 1ZX3-K43), Died 11 Jul 1667 Groton Middlesex MA.

   Events:

1. Immigration; 1636, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. From Wisset Suffolk England, Carpenter.

2. Freeman; 17 Apr 1637, Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA.

3. Removed; 1662, Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA.

   Marriage Information:

John married Elizabeth COOKE, daughter of Aaron COOKE, Sr and Elizabeth CHARDE, about 1635 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA. (Elizabeth COOKE was born on 8 Sep 1611 in Wisset, Norwich, Suffolk, England, christened on 8 Sep 1611 in Bridport, Dorsetshire, England and died on 29 Aug 1663 in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA.)

   Marriage Information:

John also married Susan BATCHELDER on 2 Nov 1664 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. (Susan BATCHELDER was born in Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA and died on 8 Jul 1668.)