| Notes |
- . John C Lawrence soon became Benton Harbor's most popular schoolmaster in the early days of the village. To JCL is due credit for placing Benton Harbor's schools upon a practical working bases. To John C. Lawrence is due credit for placing Benton Harbor's schools upon a practical working basis. The school was graded into first & second grades, & as the building was too small to accommodate all the pupils another school house of similar construction was erected. In the new building the younger children, or juniors, were taught the alphabet, primer & first reader by a woman teacher.
. 1882 to 1890 & 1900 to 1901 2nd term., Benton Twp., Supervisor: JCL.
Ref: History of Benton Harbor & Tales of Village Days, 1915.
Civil War, Michigan 14th Independent regiment, Light artillery. John C Lawrence
. 1878 Polk Directory, Benton Harbor: Twp. Officers, John C Lawrence, Supt. Schools.
St. Joseph Herald, Michigan
. 1878 Nov 2 - Indignation Meeting, Fair Plain, Oct 23rd 1878 was held at the school house this evening. Mr. J H Watson publicly stated that he had made personal investigation to the qualification of A. V. Hover, an applicant for the position of teacher & was well satisfied Mr. Hover was well qualified as a teacher & would keep good order in his school & he was the kind of teacher we need. Mr. Hove & wife to teach to present term ... to carry out rules & regulations... to furnish the teacher with a list of text-books to be used in the school: Complaints.
1. Hover's rules are repugnant to the feelings of the complainants.
2. He has put at large expense of text-books outside of regular course.
3. He is incompetent.
Superintendent Mr. John Lawrence said Hover is qualified & efficient teacher, yet the Board persistently & stubbornly refused to go near the school until it had given Hover a notice of dismissal. Resolved the Board refused to provide Mr. Hove with a list of rules, by vote, Mr. & Mrs. Hove to continue teaching.
. 1878 Nov.15 (A lot more on Mr. Hove.)
Mr. J H Watson, Board member wants to vindicate himself. Mr. John Lawrence, Supt. School Benton Harbor, will not issue a 2nd grade certificate. Mr. Lawrence justly regards as an insult the insinuation of Watson & his clackers that he would give to an unworthy man a certificate, merely because some other man asked him to do so.
Weekly Palladium Newspaper, Benton Harbor
. 1886 Apr 9 -Annual township elections in Berrien Co. last Monday were conduct with much spirt. The result was a complete rout of their opponents by the Republicans, every candidate of that part was elected. Messrs. Lawrence & Plummer were on both the Republican & Prohibition tickets. Total number votes cast, 697. Supervisor: John C Lawrence 509.
. John Lawrence returned Tuesday from Chicago, where he sold a horse & found the market in those animals quite active.
. 1886 May 22 - The County Seat. Supervisor John C Lawrence of Benton, was in the village yesterday.
. 1886 Jul 30 - John C Lawrence, West. was chose a delegate to represent the Old People's Mutual Insurance Co. of Benton Harbor, at the general meeting to be held at Elkhart Aug. 4.
. 1886 Sep 17, The Republican caucus at the opera house chose to attend the county nominating conventional Berrien Springs on Monday.
. 1887 Feb 12 - Republican Caucus held at Berrien Springs, chose 28 delegates to attend the county convention: JC Lawrence.
. 1887 Mar 25 - County Teachers' Examination> Supervisor JCL is also a member of County school board, when to the county death this morning.
. 1888 Mar 30 - JCL was promptly renominated for Supervisor, but in a few remarks made in a courteous spirit he endeavored to decline; this the convention would not allow & on motion, the secretary was authorized to cast the unanimous vote for Mr. Lawrence, which was done.
. 1889 Apr 4 - the new board of supervisions, elected Apr 1st, will be as follows, the politics of each member being indicated: Benton, JC Lawrence, Republican.
. 1889 Aug 29 Ferrier Springs County Seat. Messrs JCL of Benton & HC Crosby of new Buffalo, [also a teacher] called at the clerks's office Tuesday.
. 1890 Apr 5 - Democrats of Benton twp. met in caucus at the city hall. JCL was nominated for Supervisor & on motion his nomination was made unanimous by acclamation.
. 1890 Aug 6 - School inspector to fill the vacancy the Co. Board of Examiners, JC Lawrence re-selected.
. 1891 Sep 19 - Benton Twp. Republican club held a meeting at the town hall on Britain rd. last Saturday night, with the following officers: President JCL.
. 1891 Dec 12 - Benton Harbor, At a meeting of twp. board at the town hall SL VanCamp resigned his position as supervisor & JCL was elected as his successor, to fill the unexpired term until the spring election. The outstanding Twp. accounts were audited & all bills paid to date.
. 1898 Aug 5 - JCL appointed administrator of the estate of Lillian H Clayton, deceased.
News Palladium, Benton Harbor:
. 1898 Sep 7 - Real Estate Not Dead. At least one agent says he is selling right along. Geo W Closson, who runs a bus line & does a real estate business on the side, with frequent opportunities to meet strangers as they come to town inquiring for land, denies the real estate business in this vicinity is dead. Her has sold 5 farms in the last for years. He has just completed the sale of 15 acres of choice fruit land of John & Wm. Lawrence, 2 miles east of Benton Harbor to Mr A T Stevens, who came her from North Carolina for $1,800. When fruit land without buildings will sell for $120 an acre it shows the value on real estate is by no means depreciating at the rate many suppose. Mr. Stevens has already gone to work to put up a nice house & bar on his farm.
. 1900 Aug, 28 - The court appointed John C Lawrence administrator of the Estate of Maria Hearne, deceased, late of Benton Twp.
. John Lawrence Upset. John Lawrence who was riding in a cutter today in attempting to cross the street car tracts had his cutter completely turned over & he wha thrown out. is head striking on the rails.
fortunately he was not seriously injured.
.1912 Sep 30 - John C Lawrence to Richard P Chaddock & wife, 1 ½ acres, Sec 16, Benton Twp. $300.
. 1913 July 15 John C Lawrence to H V Hutton, ½ acres in Sec 16, Benton Twp., $100. < < <
. 1910 May 3 Census, Benton, Berrien Co., Michigan
Lawrence, John C, age 66, b 1844, single, Ohio., English Can. Ohio, Farmer, general farming
Greeley, Janette, age 57, 1853, cousin, b. Ohio, Maine, Ohio, housekeeper, private family.
. 1917 Apr 10 . John C. Lawrence. who taught during 1867 -1868. Several amusing incidents occurred during his teaching. One afternoon a little girl who was always bent on mischief would not obey him. In site of the fact that it was a warm day, the fire in that old box stove was blazing merrily way. Mr. Lawrence made this unruly pupil sit on the heap of splintery wood pile by the side of the hot stove. Suddenly a knock was heart at the door & in came a few elect visitors. Of course Mr Lawrence told the girl that she could take her seat but being stubborn & cross she refused to do this. consequently after sitting by the stove all the afternoon she was badly blistered & bruised.
At another time he was bothered by a 16 old girl who was not very bright. She had a habit of falling asleep during school & thereby caused much annoyance as well as amusement by her ceaseless snores which sounded like an inharmonic scale sung backwards. On this particular afternoon she made more noise than usual & Mr. Lawrence unable to stand the racket longer picked up his ebony ruler and gave her several smart slaps on the shoulder with it. this made the girl exceedingly angry & she left he school for good. Everybody talks about this episode & said that it was a shame for him to have hit her, a girl, on the shoulder so. However, he said, "I am gland she did leave school because she was naturally due & stupid & caused a great deal of trouble"
Different social affairs are held there too, until the American Hotel was built & the dining hall became the village's auditorium. J Lawrence had 112 scholars in one room. As his attendance increased he was given a tenement house by Crushing Burr. In this, which was right back of his building, he placed the pupils from 3 grades down under the new instructor Miss Bowman. Mr. Lawrence taught all of the hight grades in the old building. He instructed them also in the harder subjects like Geometry & Trigonometry.
One day a little cooler fellow sho was broke out the smallpox came to school & entered Miss Bowman's room. As soon as she saw him se hastily if not gracefully climbed out the window & ran to Mr. Lawrence. She told him that unless he sent the boy back to his home she'd quit right then & there. Mr. L. hastens to her call & sent the lad away.
When Mr Lawrence was leaving the school a large sized dictionary bearing an inscription i Geo. Thresher's handwriting that plainly showed how dearly his scholars loved him & a copy of Earths striation are presented to him by the pupils. He still treasures these.
Ref: News Palladium, Benton Harbor.
. Bill Hess was succeeded in the school by John C. Lawrence. who taught during 1867 -1868. The later soon became Benton Harbor's most popular schoolmaster in the early days of the village. To John C. Lawrence is due credit for placing Benton Harbor's schools upon a practical working basis. The school was graded into first & second grades, & as the building was too small to accommodate all the pupils another school house of similar construction was erected. In the new building the younger children, or juniors, were taught the alphabet, primer & first reader by a woman teacher.
- Supervisors: 1882 to 1890 John C. Lawrence; & 1900 to 1901 John C. Lawrence. (2nd term).
History of Benton Harbor & Tales of Village Days, 1915.
* 1906 Biography of John C Lawrence
Living in Benton Twp., on Territorial Road about 2 mile e of Benton Harbor, born in Warren County, Ohio, Aug 24 1843. In 1857 he was brought to this country by parents Daniel Lawrence, born in Canada of English parentage, & Jane Crawford Crossing the border into the US he became a resident of Cincinnati & married Miss Jane Crawford of Warren Co., from an early day. Her father was an English line & her mother was from Ireland.
Daniel Lawrence was a blacksmith by trade & later learned & followed the shoemaker's trade. In 1857 he purchased farm land on Territorial rd. near Benton Harbor. He paid $1,600. for eight acres. He died on 6 August, 1887, aged 82 y 11 16d. He wife had passed away Mar 17, 1886, at age 75 y 1m 17d. Mr. Lawrence was a Democrat & kept well informed on the questions & issues of the day.
In the family there were 4 sons & 4 daughters, 7 of whom reached years of maturity, while 2 sons & 2 daughters are yet living, only 2 of the number are now residents of Berrier Co., John C & his sister Juditha, wife of John Osborn of Sodus township.
Of the others, Samuel died in North Dakota;
Margaret became wife of James Silver, d.in Benton Harbor;
William spent his whole life farming in Benton township, & died April 8, 1905, age 69 years,
Robert is practicing physician at Artford, MI,
Hadasshah, married John G Witney, a fruit grower of Santa Clara Co., California
* John C Lawrence came to Michigan when a youth of 14 year; when a boy he was lost in the right hand causing him the loss of the member. His early education was in public schools. He attended the Northern Indiana Collage for teachers.
Through all these years Mr. Lawrence resided at the old home where he still resides. In his political beliefs, Mr. Lawrence is a stalwart Republican, attends the conventions of his party & takes an active interest in its work. He has been caring on the work of the home farm, He & his brother William being owners of the property & at the latter's death, he became his heir. They were partners all their live with the exception of 3 months always lived together. He is now engaged in fruit growing having 114 acres planted to fruit.
His cousin Jeanette Greeley, has acted as his housekeeper for ten years. [ b. 1853 Ohio.]
Ref: Michigan County Histories & Atlases: A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan Orville W. Coolidge. 1839-1918.
. 1920 May 8 Census, Hartford, Michigan
- Lawrence, John C, Head, Age 76, b 1844, Ohio, Father born Canada, mother b. Ohio
Wanner, Mary J, cousin, widow, age 81, b 1839 Canada, parents b, Ireland & Canada
Hamilton, Elizabeth A. cousin, single, age 64, b 1856 Canada, single, parents. b. Ireland & Canada.
Note: The widowed Mary Jane Hamilton Wanner & her sister Elizabeth Rebecca Hamilton resided at Hartford, Michigan, with John C Lawrence, Elizabeth as his housekeeper. Both were listed on the 1920 census as cousins. John C Lawrence's brother Dr. Robert Lawrence, also resided in Hartford, had just died the previous year.
John C Lawrence, teacher. Buried Morton Cemetery.
XREF: Please see his father Daniel T Lawrence for more details in the two printed biographies of this Lawrence family. - - -
|
1843 - 1922 (78 years)