Life

He was the son of Thomas Lawrence (1733—1816; brother of Jonathan Lawrence

Jonathan Lawrence

Jonathan Lawrence was an American merchant and politician from New York.-Life:...

) and Elizabeth (Fish) Lawrence. He attended Princeton College, but left to fight in the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 as a lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

.

In 1788, he was a delegate to the New York State Convention which ratified the U.S. Constitution. He was Secretary to the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York

University of the State of New York

The University of the State of New York is the State of New York's governmental umbrella organization responsible for most institutions and people in any way connected with formal educational functions, public and private, in New York State...

 from 1790 to 1794. He was a member of the New York State Assembly

New York State Assembly

The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...

 in 1791, 1792, 1795 and 1796. He was New York State Attorney General

New York State Attorney General

The New York State Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of New York. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of New York.The current Attorney General is Eric Schneiderman...

 from 1792 to 1795.

On February 16, 1796, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the First District, comprising Suffolk

Suffolk County, New York

Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...

, Queens, Kings, Richmond and Westchester

Westchester County, New York

Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...

 Counties, and died in office.

He married Elizabeth Berrien (1762–1800; aunt of John M. Berrien

John M. Berrien

John Macpherson Berrien of Georgia was a United States Senator and Andrew Jackson's Attorney General.Born at Rocky Hill, New Jersey, to a family of Huguenot ancestry, Berrien moved with his parents to Savannah, Georgia, in 1782; was graduated from Princeton College in 1796; studied law in...

), and they had two daughters: Margaret Elizabeth Lawrence who married Philip Lindsley, and Elizabeth Lawrence who died in infancy.

Sources

• History of Queens County
• Nathaniel Lawrence at Haley Lawrence genealogy [gives July 15 as death date]
• Google Book The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858; pages 36, 166, 169 and 287)
• History of Long Island by Benjamin Franklin Thompson (New York City, 1839; page 426)
• Death notice, original from the New York Journal, republished in Queens County in Olden Times by Henry Onderdonk Jr. (Jamaica, NY, 1865; page 87) [gives July 5 as death date]