![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-content\/uploads\/Abraham_Riker_Lawrence.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA<\/b>braham Riker Lawrence\u00a0(September 19, 1832 \u2013 February 14, 1917)[1]\u00a0was an American lawyer, judge, and historian.<\/p>\n
Early life[edit]<\/p>\n
Abraham was born in New York City on September 19, 1832 and was the namesake of his paternal uncle, Abraham Riker Lawrence, a merchant.[2][3]\u00a0He was one of eleven children born to\u00a0John L. Lawrence\u00a0(1785\u20131849) and Sarah Augusta (n\u00e9e\u00a0Smith) Lawrence (1794\u20131877). Among his siblings was Ann Middleton (n\u00e9e Lawrence) Suydam, who married John Richard Suydam, a merchant and “gentleman well-known in New-York society for his genial and hospitably qualities” (parents of\u00a0Jane Mesier Suydam),[4]\u00a0Richard Montgomery Lawrence; and Charles William Lawrence.[5]\u00a0His father was a\u00a0New York State Senator,\u00a0Comptroller of New York City\u00a0and diplomat (who served as\u00a0charg\u00e9 d’Affaires\u00a0at\u00a0Stockholm\u00a0during the absence of\u00a0U.S. Minister to Sweden\u00a0Jonathan Russell).[1]<\/p>\n
His paternal grandparents were\u00a0Jonathan Lawrence, a merchant and New York State Senator, and Ruth (n\u00e9e Riker) Lawrence, a member of the Riker family, for whom\u00a0Rikers Island\u00a0is named.[6]\u00a0Among his extended family were uncles, Congressmen\u00a0Samuel Lawrence\u00a0and\u00a0William T. Lawrence, as well as\u00a0William Beach Lawrence, the\u00a0Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island, and Brigadier General\u00a0Albert G. Lawrence.[2]\u00a0He was also a direct descendant of Capt.\u00a0James Lawrence, a hero of the\u00a0War of 1812,[7]\u00a0and Maj. Thomas Lawrence of the\u00a0British Army\u00a0who received a land grant in what became\u00a0Queens\u00a0in 1656.[8]\u00a0His maternal grandparents were Elizabeth (n\u00e9e Woodhull) Smith (daughter of Gen.\u00a0Nathaniel Woodhull) and General\u00a0John Tangier Smith, a\u00a0U.S. Representative\u00a0and\u00a0U.S. Senator\u00a0from New York.[9]<\/p>\n
Lawrence was educated at private schools and then attended and graduated from\u00a0Ballston Spa Law School\u00a0in\u00a0Ballston Spa, New York.[9]<\/p>\n
Career[edit]<\/p>\n
After being\u00a0admitted to the bar\u00a0in 1853, he was appointed and served as Assistant\u00a0Corporation Counsel of New York City\u00a0from 1853 to 1856 and from 1857 to 1858. In 1859, Lawrence wrote\u00a0Compilation of the Tax Laws of the State of New York, with notes of Cases.[10]\u00a0In 1867, he was a member of the\u00a0Constitutional Convention. In\u00a01870, he was one of the founders of the\u00a0Association of the Bar of the City of New York\u00a0(serving as vice-president in 1905 and 1906).[9]<\/p>\n
Political career[edit]<\/p>\n
In 1870, he was a leading member of\u00a0Apollo Hall,[11]\u00a0a\u00a0Democratic\u00a0reform movement founded by New York State Senator\u00a0James O’Brien\u00a0as a response to the corruption of\u00a0Boss Tweed\u00a0controlled\u00a0Tammany Hall.[12]<\/p>\n
In\u00a01872, Lawrence, then a lawyer doing business at 25\u00a0Nassau Street, was selected by both Tammany Hall (even though he had been a vocal opponent of Tammany)[13]\u00a0and the\u00a0Greeleyites\u00a0as the Democratic candidate for\u00a0mayor of New York City\u00a0against the O’Brien, the Apollo candidate, and\u00a0William Frederick Havemeyer, the\u00a0Republican\u00a0candidate.[11][14]\u00a0Lawrence came in second place, losing to Havemeyer,[15]\u00a0in what became Havemeyer’s third non-consecutive term as mayor.[1]<\/p>\n
In 1873, he was elected a justice of the\u00a0Supreme Court of New York. He was reelected in 1887 and served on the bench for twenty-eight years until December 31, 1901.[16]\u00a0After his retirement, a dinner was given in his honor at\u00a0Delmonico’s\u00a0and hosted by\u00a0John Edward Parsons, president of the Bar Association.[16]\u00a0From 1911 until his death, he served as the official\u00a0Referee of the Supreme Court.[1]<\/p>\n
Society life[edit]<\/p>\n
Lawrence was a member of the\u00a0Union Club, the\u00a0Century Club\u00a0and the\u00a0Manhattan Club. In addition to membership in the\u00a0Society of Colonial Wars\u00a0(serving as Chancellor in 1895)[5]\u00a0and the American Rifle Association, he served two terms as president the\u00a025th President\u00a0of the\u00a0Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York\u00a0from 1882 to 1883, succeeding\u00a0Edward Floyd DeLancey.[9]\u00a0He previously served as fourth vice-president in 1878, second vice-president in 1879, and first vice-president from 1880 to 1881.[17]<\/p>\n
Personal life[edit]<\/p>\n
In 1860, Lawrence was married to Elizabeth “Eliza” Williams Miner (1838\u20131915).[18]\u00a0Eliza was the only daughter of Dr. William Miner and Julia Caroline (n\u00e9e Williams) Miner. Together, Eliza and Abraham were the parents of:[5]<\/p>\n
William Miner Lawrence\u00a0(1861\u20131935),[8]\u00a0a member of the\u00a0New York State Assembly\u00a0in 1891 who married Lavinia Oliver (1869\u20131916).[5]
\nRuth Woodhull Lawrence (1866\u20131956),[7]\u00a0who did not marry and who was a founder of the\u00a0National Society of Colonial Dames\u00a0in New York in 1893.[19][7]<\/p>\n
Lawrence died at his home, 69\u00a0Washington Place\u00a0in New York City, on February 14, 1917.[1]\u00a0He was buried at the Lawrence Family Cemetery, on 20th Road and 35th Street, in\u00a0Astoria, Queens.[20]<\/p>\n
Descendants[edit]<\/p>\n
Through his son William, he was the grandfather of Oliver P. Lawrence (1892\u20131975), a\u00a0U.S. Navy\u00a0veteran, Clement Lawrence, who died young, and Ruth Lawrence (1902\u20131992), who married Stuart M. Briggs (son of G. Loring Briggs), in 1926.[21]\u00a0Ruth, who graduated from\u00a0Wellesley College\u00a0in 1925, was one of only five non-family members to inherit from\u00a0Hetty Green, through her mentorship relationship with Green’s son,\u00a0Edward Howland Robinson Green.[22]<\/p>\n
Abraham Riker Lawrence\u00a0(September 19, 1832 \u2013 February 14, 1917)[1]\u00a0was an American lawyer, judge, and historian. Early life[edit] Abraham was born in New York City on September 19, 1832 and was the namesake of his paternal uncle, Abraham Riker Lawrence, a merchant.[2][3]\u00a0He was one of eleven children born to\u00a0John L. Lawrence\u00a0(1785\u20131849) and Sarah Augusta […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1187],"class_list":["post-8509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-genealogy","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8511,"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8509\/revisions\/8511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}