| Notes |
- PART ONE:
Richard is name after his grandfather, Richard Lawrence, Esq. (1719-1726.)
. 1771 July 5, List of letters, remaining in the Post Office, Richard Lawrence, Shrewsbury.
Ref: NY Gazette.
. Richard Lawrence, Upper Freehold. Ref: Roster of the People of Revolutionary Monmouth County.
. NEIGHBOURS MEET AGAIN. In Sept 1763 Cyrenius & Chrineyonce Vanmater, Richard Lawrence were witnesses to the WILL of Daniel Polhemus of Middletown, NJ. This probably was Richard's grandfather, Richard Lawrence, Esq.iii.
In New Brunswick, Chrineyonce Vanmater & this Richard Lawrence, UE. petitioned together for land in Prince William Co., NB.
Note1: This land grant adjacent to his brother John Lawrence, was not taken up because it had previous legal encumbrances. - PJA 2101.
. Richard Lawrence carried a English Bible giving his & siblings' birth dates. He must have carried this Bible with him at the end of the American Revolution, & then to NB & finally to Upper Canada. The Bible was then given to his youngest child, Rebecca. Grandson Walter Hamilton is the last known owner of the Lawrence Bible.
. OLD UNITED EMPIRE LOYALIST LISTS: Laurence, Richard, Home District, Loyalist from N. Brunswick. Ref: Appendix, Appendix B.
1776 Jul 15, Letters Remaining in the Post Office, New York: Richard Lawrence, Staten Island.
Ref: New-York Gazette & Weekly Mercury.
. 1776 MUSTER: Richard Lawrence:
. 1771 Feb - 24 Apr - Lawrence, Richard - Private, General Hospital (2 Richards) Muster roll of Capt. Wm. Gray's NYV. Lieut. 1st Co.
. 1777 October 24 - Capt Gilbert C Willett, 3rd Battalion of Oliver De Lacey, p. 28, at Long Island, #20 Richard Lawrence.
. 1778 Apr 24 - Rich. Lawrence, ", C1880,p22;
. 1778 Sep 4 -C1880, p38; 1778 Oct 24, c1880,p39;
. 1779 November 29, Capt. Thomas Hewlett's Co. NYV - Savannah, Quarter Masters Gen. Dept. & Hewlett's Coy.
Ref: British Military & Naval Records, p49, RG8 Vol C, Printed 1874. Elsewhere there is a UEL claim for supplies of horses & wagons for Trenton New Jersey.
Ref: British Military & Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, Copy Arch. Canada.
NB Land Petitions:
* Note2: 1787 After the American Revolution four Lawrences lived near each other in Saint Johns, New Brunswick: Mrs. Alice Lawrence Leonard (Thomas) Lot 1; Lieut. John Lawrence Lot 101; Lieut. Richard Lawrence was on Lot 169 on the other side of the Saint John River; along with sister Mrs. Margaret Lawrence Nicholson (Arthur) at Lot 52. As well as an important Lawrence family friend, Rev. J Odell of NJ, was adjacent to his land grant.
. Richard gave up his land claim in Prince William because of a prior legal entanglement by an earlier French Canadian inhabitant. Richard also made failed landed petitions with his Monmouth, New Jersey neighbours', Corneilis VanMater* & Capt. Richd. Lippincott, (BUT much later he would again be adjacent to R. Lippencott on Yonge St., Toronto) - PJ Ahlberg.
Note3: *John Vanmater was a witness to Richard's father, William Lawrence, d. 1795 in Middletown, NJ.
. PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK LAND GRANT 1793 DEC 12, NB Archives. George the Third grant to Rev. James Fraser, Edward Rogers, Anthony Rogers, Arthur Nicholson, Esq., John Willson, Junior, Richard Lawrence, Stillwell Willson & James Walsh 2,238 acres on the northwest branch of the River Miramichi in the County of Northumberland. The first track beginning at the alder Stake on the easterly bank or shore of an Island being in the said Branch.
To John Willson Junior: Lot One, 200 Acres To Richard Lawrence the Lot Two, containing 232 acres, Stillwell Willson, Lot Four, 240 acres, minus road allowances & wastage, Saving & reserving to ourselves, all white pine trees & lumber, Ponds & watercourses. Also the privilege of hunting, hawking & fowling in & upon the same & mines & minerals of Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead & coals.
Registered the 12 December, 1793, Thomas Carlton, Lieutenant Governor, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
** See photo Parchment & wax seal, Crown Land Grant for Lot 25, Con. 1 East Yonge Street, Toronto (Yonge & Steeles St.)
. UC Land Petitions. Bundle, L2, Petition 5, Vol 283, 1795 of York, Richard Lawrence, Sr.
Ref: C2124 Ont. Archives. Original document is preserved at the North York Public Library, Yonge Street, Toronto. Very large parchment document with an attached was seal.
*Researchers who had other relatives who received an UC Land Grant may wish to see what this very impressive document looked like. This also helps in part to understand why the administration of land granting was so slow.
. To His Excellency John Graves Simcoe, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor & Commissioning his Majesty's forces in Upper Canada. Major General.
The Memorial of Richard Lawrence Late of the Province of New Brunswick in Nova Scotia That your Memorialist Entered in the Service of His Britannic Majesty at the beginning the Late rebellion continued in the same till the Peace of Eighty three & that since that time he accepted a Commission of first Lieutenant for the County of Northumberland in New Brunswick which he is ready to produce if required - & being Desirous of remaining a Subject to the King of Great Britain in this Province.
Humbly Prays that his Majesty's most gracious bounty in Lands may be Extended to your memorialist for the following Lotts Viz Number 25 on Yonge Street Eastward & Two other Lotts in the Rear of Said Number 25 second Concession also a Lott in the Town of York, Number 18 in the second range Which he has improved as well as No 25 Yonge Street & such other quantity of Land as to your Excellency in your Wisdom may seem meet - & your Petitioner as in Duty Bound will ever pray.
6 April, 1796, Richard Lawrence.
. There are 5 other Upper Canada Land Petitions for Richard Lawrence.
. The original parchment & seal, LAND GRANT for Lot 25, Concession 1 Yonge Street, east side, 200 Acres, will be found at the Canadian Room, North York Public Library, on Yonge Street, Toronto.
. 1796 July 30 Granted Lot 18 D, Duke St., Town of York / now renamed as: 79 King St. East, Toronto. (The next Lot 19 Duke, was granted to Samuel Osborn & his wife, Mrs. Alice Willson Osborn).
. Lots 1 & 2, Con 4, Vaughan Twp., 400 Acres.
Note4: 8 Oct., 1796 is the day he paid his land settlement fees, & is sometimes incorrectly quoted as the day he was first granted this land. - PJA
. 1805 Feb 1, Patented, Lot 3, Con 4, Vaughan Twp., York Co., Ontario, 200 Acres.
. 1802 Feb 21, Lot 1, Con 5, Vaughan Twp., 200 Acres granted to wife, Mary Willson Lawrence.
. 1804 Aug. 31, Lot 27, Con 1 Yonge St. E, Markham Twp., York Co., Ontario, purchased 190 Acres for £100 & sold two years later to relative John Arnold for the same amount.
. 1805 - Lot 24, Con 2 West, York Twp., York Co., Ontario, Purchased 200 Acres & sold 1809 to Jacob Fisher, Jr.
. Richard Lawrence received Tavern Licenses from at least 1805 to 1815 for the Twp. of York. In Mar 1801 The Special Sessions of Peace, held the "The Court are of opinion that six persons are a sufficient number for Keeping Tavern in the Town of York, for the year ensuing.
Ref: Toronto Sundries, Home District. Quarter Sessions.
Note5: Various sources state the Joseph Abraham ran the first inn called the Green Bush at Steeles & Yonge at the North east corner. In an area noted for tall trees, it must have been a large balsam tree indeed that stood in front of the Inn. The NE corner belong to his brother-in-law Wm. L. Willson. Further research may show the exact location of Lawrence's tavern.
. Regulations included: No excess drinking, no profanities or gambling; sufficient sheds, stables &/or barns were required for the patron's horses, carriages & wagons. The innkeeper should also have at least four good beds in addition to those for his family. All of these regulations were controls to limit taverns & increase inns.
Ref: Margaret McBurney & Mary Byers, Tavern in the Town: Early Inns & Taverns of Ontario.
. 1803 Post Office Letters, downtown Toronto: This issue contains a list published by the postmaster of uncalled-for letters lying in the post-office at York:
. Richard Lawrence. (Original Toronto Post Office was one street over from Richard's 179 King Street house. However by 1803, Richard was now up on Yonge & Steeles.)
Ref: Vol XIL, The Oracle, Saturday Jan. 15, 1803, No. 28, Total No 610.
Note6: McGill had the 1000 Acres at Lot 25, Con 2, adjoining Richard Lawrence's Land Grant - P J Ahlberg). [1]
- PART TWO, Tracking Richard Lawrence Though Documents:
. 1759 Aug. 20, Monday born, Middletown, Upper Freehold Twp., Monmouth Co., Prov. of New Jersey. Father William Lawrence's carpenter's shop along with his brothers.
. 1776 to 1783. American Revolution, New Jersey 1st Volunteers, Christies' Quarter Master Department. He was a volunteer in the army most of the time.
. 1776 Richard is on Staten Island, NY.
Note7: UCLPetition Richard gave a reference for Sarah Lakerman Willson who was on Staten Island since the beginning of the War and therefore, Richard Lawrence too.
. 1785 New Brunswick. Purchased land at Musquash Island on the St. John's River from Capt. Richard Lippincott also of NJ.
. 1786 New Brunswick. By this time he is married to Mary Willson. [Further research: Records of the Anglican minister traveling though the Miramichi?]
. 1787 Jul 25, Wants land at Prince William, Queensborough, NB. allotted primarily to the Queen's American Rangers (and to future brother-in-law Arthur Nicholson, (ELIZABETH LAWRENCE).
. 1789 Jul 27, Land Grant: A little beyond the Sandy Point, opposite, Between Island by Johnston Basto, West Branch of Miramichi River, Northumberland County, New Brunswick.
. 1789 Sep 25, Granted land at Willson's Point, Miramichi, New Brunswick. Richard builds log gaol at nearby, Newcastle, NB.
Northumberland Co., New Brunswick, Deed Registry Books, Grantor:
. 1793 June 15th - Richard Lawrence & Mary Lawrence to William Babcock, Vol 2, Pg. 97, Deed £20 for 200 Acres, 22 cleared with Stockable Dwelling House, 3 Commons Pasture. Signed John Willson, Esq., JP of Inferior Court of Common Pleas.
. 1793 July 11 - MAY FLEET NJ * NY *NB *UC. Evacuation from NY to New Brunswick in 1783. Again the 'May Fleet' leaves around NB by ship, and up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal, where John Willson called on Commissary Issac W Clarke for aid. The 60 people including Richd. Lawrence were in the party lead by John Willson, Esq.
. 1793 Aug 8 - Arrived at Quebec with 60 people. A dozen people remain here. Arrival by three bateaux at Kingston on 28 Aug., 1793. Received army rations and medical care. Detained over 30 days waiting for another boat. 10 Oct., 1793 group arrives at Niagara again sick and starved. 25 Oct, Governor J G Simcoe authorizes ship to pick up John Willson and associates.
1793 Sept, Fort George, Niagara. Lieut. Gov. Simcoe orders government ship to bring them Willson & all from Niagara to Town of York.
1793 Nov 2, Arrival at the Town of York, Toronto. Extracted from the documents on the hardships of this voyage to Upper Canada can be found also at 1) Roots.com under JOHN WILLSON.1 and 2.) more extensively in Richard Lawrence of NJ, NB & Ontario. Book may be found at North York Public Library, Toronto. & Richmond Hill Library - PJ Ahlberg, 2009.
. 1794 April 7 to 30 June, Paid for carpentry, Navy Hall, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Paid £15 11 s. 3 pennies, on 10 July, 1794.
. 1795 June 1. Petitions for Lot 25, Con. 1 ES Yonge Street, York Twp., ON WHICH HE HAS ALREADY LOCATED. (Yonge & Steeles Ave., Toronto). Tavern here or and/or Vaughan. Sold 20 Aug, 1819. As a lieutenant he was granted 1000 Acres, and an additional 400 Acres from his wife, Mary Willson.
* 1796 May 28, Cousin John Brown Lawrence presented Richard's land grant to his friend Gov. Simcoe:
. 1796 July 30 already built on it: 18 Duke Street, TOWN OF YORK. Today 179 King St. East, Toronto Downtown.
. 1796 Oct 8 - Granted and lots in Vaughan, (just across the road from his Lot 25, Con 1 Yonge.) Steeles & Yonge Streets, tavern here or and/or at Vaughan.
. 1797 Minutes of the Town of York: Richd. Lawrence: no males and four females. Total six.
i.e. Richd. & wife Mary and John, Mary, Marg., Eliz. & Mary Anne Lawrence.
Note8: Town of York had only 52 males and 34 females living on Yonge St., Toronto.
. Two Surveys of Settlers actually living on Yonge Street:
. York, 3 Aug, 1797 Lot No. 25 East, Five Acres cleared, Richard Lawrence is on the premises.
. 1797 Jun 27 - Oath saying he knew Sarah Lakerman, wife of John Wilson, Jur. & that her father died within the British lines in the year 1776. Signed, Richd. Lawrence.
. 1798 June. Lot 25 East, Richard Lawrence, Four acres cleared. Small log house. He is living on the lot. Surveyed by David W Smith, Esq., Surveyor General.
{ Is Wm. L. Willson, his brother-in-law on the adjacent Lot 26, actually living with Richard & his sister, Mrs. Mary Willson Lawrence? - PJA.]
. 1802, Jan 12, Tuesday Richard Lawrence (7th) sworn to Petty Jury of 12 men. John Evenor the accused. When the miller was absent, John Evenor was seen taking a sheep away from the barn yard. Discharged because no Prosecutor was present.
. 1805, Mar 2. Richard Lawrence of Yonge St. who had received a license to keep a Tavern for House, at his dwelling house and who had removed from thence to another Public house; applied for leave to keep a Tavern under the same license in the house to which he had removed. The court do not find themselves authorized to comply with this request as they deem the License to be attached to the house recognize has been taken & not to any other.
Note9: 1 Feb 1804. Richard sells Lot 3, Con 4, Vaughan Twp. property. Coincidence?
. 1815, Dec 30. Richard Lawrence received a Tavern License for Township of York.
. The Town of Charlotteville: When the war of 1812 broke out the court-house was used for barrack purposes, ... was christened " Fort Norfolk." The court house, jail, the fort, and the tavern of Job Loder all stood on the elevation above the flat. A hotel was built under the hill and kept by a man named Hatch. In 1833, during the cholera scare, a hospital was built at this place. It stood on the bank & was a barn-like structure, and was used but little, if at all, for the purpose for which it was built. The old Town of Charlotteville reached the zenith of its glory during the war. In 1815 the District Courts were removed to Vittoria, and the Town of Charlotteville relapsed into Turkey Point once more. No traces of its old-time importance remain, save a few surface irregularities indicating the spot occupied by the fort. The dreary waste at Turkey Point was, for 13 years, the judicial metropolis for all this vast region of country. [Published 1908.]
Ref: Pioneer sketches of Long Point settlement.
Extracts from HIS CHILDREN'S LAND PETITION RICHARD LAWRENCE:
. 1818 Apr 14, Richard Lawrence is now in Woodhouse, Ontario, daughter Margaret Lawrence.
. 1818 August 6, Mary Ann is with her parents at Long Pointe, Ontario.
. 1819 October 13, Richard is in Woodhouse now, wrote daughter Elizabeth Osborn-Tarbox-Lawrence.
. 1820 April 11, He is now in Charlotteville, London District, (Norfolk County).
. 1821 Feb 21, Sold Vaughan Twp. property of his wife, Mary Willson.
. Transcriptions by PJ Ahlberg, Thank you. - - -
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1759 - Bef 1831 (< 71 years)