Lawrence, Henry

LAWRENCE, STEBBINS, CLARK

Posted By: Gary Norris (email)
Date: 1/17/2013 at 08:57:00

The History of Poweshiek County, Iowa
Des Moines: Union Hist. Co., 1880.

LAWRENCE, HENRY—Grinnell Twp—pg 908-9. Cashier of the Grinnell Savings Bank, Grinnell. Was born in Monroe, Monroe county, Michigan, on the thirty-first day of October, 1829. He is the son of Wolcott and Caroline E. (Stebbins) Lawrence, who settled in Monroe as early as 1815, they being the first eastern people to settle there. They came from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Mr. Lawrence was a lawyer; he died when young Lawrence was but fourteen years of age; his mother died when he was but four years of age. He received the advantages of a good education, attending two terms at Ann Arbor. After losing his father he went to Milan, Ohio, and engaged as clerk in a store of general merchandise. In 1854 he came West and landed in Grinnell on the thirtieth day of March, and for two years following was land agent. He then located on a farm in Marshall county, on the present site of Gilman; here he followed agricultural pursuits until 1863, when he gave up farming and returned once more to Grinnell: and in the spring of 1864 he accepted a clerkship in the treasury department at Washington, which position he held until 1870, since which time he has been principally engaged in the railroad business; was cashier for the receiver, J.B. Grinnell, on the Central Railroad of Iowa, and held other prominent positions; he is now secretary and treasurer of the Grinnell and Montezuma Railroad; he was one of the original stockholders of the savings bank of which he is now cashier. He was married in Grinnell, September 13, 1870, to Miss Abbie, daughter of Capt. N.W. Clark. Their family are: Henrietta, Frank, Harry, Rodney and Caroline S. Thus, in brief, is the history of one of Grinnell’s best business men.