By John Lawrence

This genealogical record of the ancient Lawrence family, shows their English history, their family relations to society, and the brothers who came to America in it's early years of settlement. John Lawrence of Wisset in Suffolk, England, and of Watertown and Groton, Massachusetts. (update to the 1869 eidtion) It provides genealogy, beginning with Edmund Laurence, father of Robert Sr., who had sons. It shares the coat of arms, a record of the family history, brief biographical sketches of prominent family members, such as those who served in public office, and of Archbishop Lawrence the monk, and Laurentius who was martyred by being boiled, in 258 A.D. It gives the reader a glimpse into the past. The first American ancestors were brothers John, William and Thomas Lawrence. John and William came to America in the ship Planter, in 1635. Thomas was born in 1625 and he came later. They were fifteenth in descent from Robertus Laurentius, (or Robert Lawrence), of Ashton Hall, Lancashire. Dating back to 1191 Crusades. John was born 1617-18 and was young when he settled in Watertown. In 1636 he received a grant of land. He was admitted a freeman in 1637. His brother William Lawrence, was born in 1623 in St Albans, England. They were a cousin to the celebrated Sir Henry Lawrence, a man of high character and distinction, who was appointed by Cromwell, Lord President of his Council in 1654.  John Lawrence married Elizabeth, and they had thirteen children. After she died he married Susanna and they had two daughters together. 

(76p., Illus, Index, 1876)