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- Mary Lawrence, a beautiful & accomplished woman.
Painting of Mary N Lawrence: Mary appears young & slight in is portrait: Bodice of the dress is maroon velvet off the shoulder short sleeves held with a ribbon with a clasp. Suggestion of a white skirt. Dark hair piled on top, pink cheeks. Unable to decipher if her eyes are light or dark.
To Sir Pergrine Maitland, In Council, Petitioner is heiress to her grand-father, John Lawrence, Esquire, late of Twp. York, deceased. The Conveyances or an Executrix to titles of certain lots of land in Twp. of Dorchester S, [Essex County] & in New Brunswick in the name of John Lawrence. She has been lately been informed that she cannot inherit the Real Estate of the said John Lawrence because she is an alien residing in New York.
May Lawrence Petition the Upper Canada Parliament on 13 December, 1820 in Toronto.
. To. Lieut. Governor John Colborne, KCB, Upper Canada [Ontario[,
Petition of Mary Lawrence. The humble petition of Mary Lawrence, Sheweth she is the granddaughter of John Lawrence, late of Etobicoke, Home District, Esquire, a U.E. Loyalist who having his family in the US, removed into this Province subsequent to the Treaty of 1783 & continued until his death.
As an acknowledgment of his services & as reward of his attachment to the Unity of the Empire, he obtained an order of Council for Lots 11, 12, 13, 14, part of 16, in Con 4, Southern Division of Dorchester, containing about 972 acres of land. No patent for which has been completed. Inheriting title to the said Estate of her Grandfather, your petition is called upon point she is the only child of the said John Lawrence's only son, the late Captain Lawrence, who fell commanding the Chesapeake in the action with His Majesty's Frigate the Shannon, during the late last war tithe the US of America. [1812]
That the petition claimed the said property under the Heir & Devise Ace of this Province, but such claims are withdrawn upon it being intimated that her claim could not be recognized by the Commissioners, she not having been born with the Kings' Dominions & therefore being an alien.
That your petition residence in a foreign county being a matter of necessity & not off choice. She is sincerely humbly to hope your Excellency will take her case into your favorable consideration & concur with the other 2 Branches of the Legislature in passing a Bill to enable her to claim & obtain the said land, of her said Grandfather or in granting such other relief as to your Excellency may seem fit.
Signed, Mary Lawrence [Undated, but envelope reads 1829. -PJA]
"JOHN BROWN LAWRENCE...was a distinguished lawyer of Burlington, NJ. He was under suspicion & imprisoned by Washington's order. His fellow prisoner was Col. John Simcoe, who was afterwards Gov. General of Canada. While in prison these two men formed a strong friendship & when in Canada Col. Simcoe invited John Lawrence to go there, which he did, & had a fit of Crown Lands. Much interest is attached to this face, as there was a dispute whether the daughter of Capt. James had any claim to these lands. But the dispute was settled by King William (the sailor king) say, "she was the daughter of a brave sailor boy & should have them." [original reference ?]
. John Brown Lawrence Bio. includes this item referring to Mary N Lawrence: In a letter c. 1864 to the author Chas. Sabine recounts that a member of the family in New Jersey communicates the following interesting incident: After the death of the Loyalist the land (John B Lawrence's large land grant in Upper Canada) was forfeited to the Crown, in consequence of failure to comply with some condition of the grants, or the non-payment of some dues. Years elapsed, & Mary his granddaughter, the child of Capt. James Lawrence, as heir, claimed its restoration. The case was carried before King William the Fourth, in Council. On being told, he said: "She is the daughter of a brave sailor, let her take it." [The quote is recorded by Lorenzo Sabine, but where did he locate it? -PJA.]
. Heir at law: A person entitled to inherit property under intestate succession laws. Intestate succession: The method by which property is distributed when a person dies without a valid will. Each state's law provides that the property be distributed to the closest surviving relatives. In most states, the surviving spouse, children, parents, siblings, nieces & nephews, & next of kin inherit, in that order.
. Page 552 - 556 - document stating Julia Lawrence of the city of New York, widow of the late James Lawrence, a Captain in the U.S. Navy, & natural guardian of Mary Lawrence, the only surviving heir of John Lawrence of the Home District, deceased; regarding claim to land, June 1, 1820.
Ref: Elgin County, Dorchester South Twp., Papers, Archives of Ontario MS 658, Reel 106.
. 1832 Jul 16, Monday. Claim 100, Mary Lawrence, New York City, spinster. Claims as Heir at law of her Grand Father, John Lawrence, Esquire, late of Etobicoke Twp. in the Home District, deceased. (now Toronto, Ontario).
Lot 11, 12, 13, 14 & south part 16, Con 4 South, Dorchester Twp., London District, 972 Acres, Original Nominee, John Lawrence, Esquire. Claim allowed.
Ref: Upper Canada Heir & Devisee Commission, P193, Film H1149 & Index Reg. H1152, p 342, as above. Archives of Ontario.
. 1821 Apr 1, Letters remaining in the Post Office at Brooklyn, NY: 1. Mrs Mary Griffin & 1. Mary O'Neill.
. 1840 Census, Newport Rhode Island, possibly this Mary Lawrence Griffin?
Mrs. Griffin, Head of family, : 3 females, aged 20-30y; 30-40y & one female 50-60y.
Third family away is Ed. N Cox & 'Aunt' Mary Montaudevert Cox.
. 1843 Oct 9 - Obituary, Died at the Villa d'Elice, near Florence, Tuscany on 3rd Sep., Mary Lawrence, wife of Lieut. Wm Preston Griffin of the US Navy & only daughter of the lamented Capt. James Lawrence, who fell defending the AmericanFlag on board the ill-fated Chespeake, in 1813.
Ref: Brooklyn Daily Eagle Newspaper, NY. & NY Tribune.
Recorded for further research:
Edward Montaudevert Neill 19 Aug 1831 - 21 Jul 1907, buried Saint Mary's Episcopal Churchyard, Portsmouth, Newport Co., Rhode Island.
[What is the relationship to Mary Neill Lawrence, cousin or what? - PJA.] - - - [1, 2, 3, 4]
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1810 - 1843 (33 years)