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- Lawrence is the son of son of John Hartshorne & Lucy Saltar. John & Lucy were half second cousins, both being descents of Capt. William Lawrence, The First.
Lawrence Hartshorne obtain grants to several thousand acres of land in Nova Scotia - New Brunswick, Canada. Hartshorne decided to establish himself in Halifax as a hardware dealer, in partnership with Thomas Boggs*, also a refugee from New Jersey.
m. first 20 Jan. 1780 Elizabeth Ustick in New York City;
m. secondly 2 Sept. 1802 Abigail Tremain in Halifax.
Ref: Lawrence Hartshorne, by D A Sutherl &, 1987.
Note1: The Boggs family was also related to the Lawrence family Lawrence Hartshorne.
Biography Lawrence Hartshorne:
Born into a leading Quaker family in the Sandy Hook area of NJ, Lawrence Hartshorne had a career which developed as a by-product of the American revolution. Immunized from revolutionary sympathies because of his religion, as well as by the proximity of British military forces, young Lawrence moved in 1777 to nearby New York City, where he entered trade. Three years later he advanced his career & also compromised his political neutrality by becoming the son-in-law of William Ustick, a hardware merchant who had earlier antagonized the New York Sons of Liberty by violating the colonial boycott of British manufactures. Family & business links with the loyalist & British military establishment, forged during the war, prompted Hartshorne to join the loyalist exodus from New York in 1783.
Having successfully drawn upon his association with such notables as [Governor] Sir Guy Carleton to obtain grants to several thousand acres of land in Nova Scotia, Hartshorne decided to establish himself in Halifax as a hardware dealer, in partnership with Thomas Boggs, also a refugee from New Jersey. During the 1780s, Hartshorne became active in the cause of agricultural improvement, both as treasurer of a pioneering agricultural society in 1789 & as proprietor of a model farm located on the outskirts of Dartmouth. Popular among his peers, Hartshorne made his initial entry into public affairs in 1791, when he acted as chief assistant to John Clarkson in the project designed to transport Nova Scotian black loyalists to Sierra Leone. Hartshorne appears to have been motivated by a Quaker-inspired concern for blacks & by a belief that their advancement could best be achieved with a return to Africa.
Hartshorne's rise to prominence was accomplished during the tenure of John Wentworth, lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia between 1792 & 1808. A fellow loyalist, Wentworth made Hartshorne one of the favoured recipients of official patronage, bestowing on him such offices as seats on the magisterial bench, the local street commission, & the poor house commission. Having the ear of the lieutenant governor probably helped Hartshorne win election in the House of Assembly for Halifax County in 1793. Then in 1801, after having been defeated in the controversial general election of 1799 by "reformers" under the leadership of William Cottnam Tonge, Hartshorne was named to the Council. The appointment confirmed that he had become a member of the inner circle of the oligarchy. Indeed, an anonymous critic of the Wentworth régime, denouncing Hartshorne as a "cedevant quaker ironmonger," claimed that he exercised an influence second only to that of Michael Wallace.
Wentworth's patronage was not confined to the allocation of office. In response to prompting from the lieutenant governor, Hartshorne formed a partnership with yet another loyalist, Jonathan Tremain, & around 1792 or so built a combined grist-mill & bakehouse on the Dartmouth side of Halifax Harbour (the site being chosen because of the availability of water power). This enterprise, which represented an investment of between £6,000 & £7,000, long ranked as the largest manufactory in Nova Scotia. Its success was largely dependent on the securing of military contracts for flour, & here the partners received decisive assistance from Wentworth. In addition, Wentworth encouraged Hartshorne to become involved with projects designed to establish a bank in Halifax & build a canal linking the town with the Bay of Fundy. Following the outbreak of war with France in 1793, Wentworth, thanks to his contacts in the Home Department, helped the firm of Boggs & Hartshorne secure military contracts & also named them as provisioning agents for Nova Scotia's Indian population. In yet a further gesture, he gave Hartshorne & the partnership of William Forsyth & William Smith an exclusive lease to mine coal deposits in mainland Nova Scotia. Apart from the flour-mill & the military contracts, these ventures proved abortive, but their existence underscored Hartshorne's membership in Wentworth's entourage. As a reciprocal gesture, Hartshorne loaned money to the frequently hard pressed Wentworth family.
The one major controversy in Hartshorne's public career came in 1804, when he resigned from the Council to protest the appointment to that body of John Butler Butler, a commissariat official & military contractor. Butler's supposed offense had been to claim precedence over Hartshorne in the Council, but it is more likely that Hartshorne could not tolerate the presence of someone who had earlier outmaneuvered him in bidding for lucrative military flour contracts. Wentworth attempted to restore Hartshorne to the Council in 1807 but the appointment was never ratified by London. The episode, however, did little damage to Hartshorne's prospects. Even after Wentworth's fall in 1808, he continued to receive official perquisites; for example, in 1812 he was named to the commission in charge of issuing provincial paper money.
Through the first decade of the 19th century, Hartshorne remained active as a hardware merchant & flour miller. It is hard to assess the relative value of his business activities because of a lack of evidence. But he did not monopolize either the local or the provincial flour trade, competition from American imports remaining a constant problem for the milling operation. He also became a founder of the association that developed into the Halifax Fire Insurance Company. Despite losses through escheat, Hartshorne continued to hold over 17,000 acres in what is now Guysborough County, which he made at least some attempt to settle. As well, he retained an interest in agricultural improvement & emerged after the War of 1812 as a supporter of John Young.
Some time after 1800, Hartshorne moved from Halifax to Dartmouth to take up residence in a large 3 storey wooden mansion known as Poplar Hill. There, with his 2nd wife, daughter of Jonathan Tremain, his business partner, he presided over a family of 3 sons & 6 daughters from both marriages, along with a younger cousin, Robert Hartshorne, who had come from Virginia to work in the family business. Securing the prospects of the next generation became the major theme of the last phase of Hartshorne's career. One step in this direction consisted of having the children baptized (some as adults) in the Church of England. As well, the family acquired a pew at St Paul's, the Anglican church in Halifax. A series of marriages ensued, with three of the children emulating their father's example by marrying into the Tremain family. Of the 3 sons, John died early, Lawrence succeeded his father as partner of Thomas Boggs*, & Hugh trained as a lawyer. The Hartshorne family remained prominent in the business, political, & social life of the Nova Scotian capital into the middle years of the 19th century, acquiring special notoriety for the lavish entertaining conducted at their Dartmouth estate. In this way, Lawrence Hartshorne contributed to the often exaggerated claim that the loyalists left a lasting imprint on the character of British North America.
Ref: D. A. Sutherland, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
Note2: Thomas Boggs is related to the Lawrences by marriage.
. 1786 Jun 3 - A Gibbons & Jos More arrived Halifax, met with Jno Panock, member of Society of Friends, within with Lawrence hartshorn & Sam. Starbuck's's home.
Ref: Cdn Quaker History, Itinerary of the Journey of A Gibbons & Jos. Moore.
. 1792 Lawrence Hartshorne & partner Jonathan Tremaine, established a New Mill & Bake House at Dartmouth Cove. Quaker technology was in advance of other mils & their flour could last without spoiling during export. Flour was shipped within NS to Newfoundland & Bermuda & the West indies. The Bake House provided hardtack for the whaling vessels & Army Garrison & Nancy Ships.
Ref: A Quarker Odyssey, Maida B Follini.
Research & transcriptions by PJ Ahlberg. Thank you. - - -
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1755 - 1822 (66 years)