W R Lawrence

LAWRENCE, FRAZIER

Posted By: County Coordiantor
Date: 11/20/2006 at 10:46:08

W R Lawrence, Danville, Illinois, was born at Bloomington, Indiana, in 1842, his father John Lawrence, was a native of the city of New York, his mother, who maiden name was Eliza Parks, was a native of Tennessee, his grandfather John Lawrence, was an Englishman, and a surgeon by profession, his ancestors, on his mothers side, were pioneers of western North Carolina, before the revolution, his father removed to the village of Georgetown, Vermillion county, Illinois, in 1849, and was there engaged in farming and part of the time keeping a store, he remained with his parents till 1862, employed in the sore an don the farm, and during the time attended the Georgetown Seminary, and the Seminary at Danville, Illinois, in the summer of 1862, while at school at Danville, he enlisted as a private in company C, Seventy-third regiment Illinois infantry, he rose to the rank of first lieutenant, was engaged with the company in the hottest of the battles of Perryville, Stone River, and Chickamauga, was severely wounded at Chickamauga, was taken prisoner at Stone River, and was kept for five months at Atlanta and Libby prison, resigned his commission in the winter of 1863-64, and went to Bloomington, Illinois where he entered the law office of Tipton & Benjamin, then among the prominent lawyers of that city, was admitted to practice, by the Supreme Count of Illinois, in April 1865, and during the same month started for Iowa to begin his profession, on the evening of the 29th of this month he halted in front of Wood D Parker’s log tavern at Boonesboro in an old stage coach filled like a sardine box, with jammed and tired travelers, he had ten dollars in money, a sickly-looking carpet sac enclosing some well worn clothing and a fine print Bible, and his experience and “cheek” were in proportion, Boonesboro was then the booming town of northwestern Iowa, this young aspirant fro professional glory, without an acquaintance in the state, decided to stoop here and “air his learning” a few days afterward, through the kindness of Col C W Lowrie, a prominent lawyer of the town, he found a place in his office, and soon became his partner, he continued with Col Lowrie till the next spring, when he formed a partnership with John A Hull, a noted lawyer of this part of the state, in the spring of 1867 he was married at Danville, Illinois, to Miss Josephine Frazier, daughter of John Frazier, and niece of Samuel Frazier, and old and well known family of that city, in May 1868, he opened an office of his won and continued in the practice for himself till the summer of 1872, when he and W M Means, then a young lawyer just out form Paris, Illinois, formed a co-partnership, about the same time they bought of O A Cheney the “Boonesboro Advocate” and ran the same in conjunction with their law office during the Grant-Greenley campaign, Lawrence sold out his interest in the paper in the spring of 1873, to A J Downing, Means clung to his new love (the newspaper), and Lawrence devoted himself solely to that jealous mistress, the law, the boom of Boonesboro had subsided, the new town of Boone “captured the convention” and Lawrence concluded to bolt, he wanted it all one thing, or all the other, in the fall of 1873 he loaded all his household goods, and law books, and office furniture, garden truck and stove wood into a box car and shipped it to Danville, Illinois, he and his family followed, there he has ever since lived, exclusively engaged in the of his profession, is a stalwart Republican, believes in Christianity, and that Iowa is one of the most glorious states of the Union, he retains a lively interest in her welfare, and for her people, and particularly those of Boone county keep0s warm in his heart the tenderest recollections

1880 Boone Co History Book