Amos Adams Lawrence (July 31, 1814August 22, 1886) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and social activist. He was a key figure in the United States abolitionist movement in the years leading up to the Civil War and the growth of the Episcopal Church in Massachusetts. He was instrumental in the establishment of the University of Kansas and Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Early life
Lawrence was born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 31, 1814. His father, Amos Lawrence, was a merchant, philanthropist, and member of the prominent Lawrence family.
Career
Following his graduation from Harvard, Lawrence entered business for himself as a commission merchant and eventually became owner of Ipswich Mills, the largest producer of knit goods in the country.
In 1858 and 1860, he was a candidate for governor of Massachusetts.
Philanthropy
Lawrence financed the founding of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, which was named after him.
In 1847, he founded a college that is today Lawrence University on of land that he had purchased in 1844 in the Fox River Valley. Some of the land he purchased became Appleton, Wisconsin, named for his father-in-law, William Appleton.
His farm outside of Boston became the campus for Boston College. From 1857 to 1862 he was treasurer of Harvard College, and from 1879 to 1885 an overseer.
Lawrence contributed large amounts of capital to the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company and funds for the colonization of free negroes in Liberia.
Personal life
In 1842, Lawrence married Sarah Elizabeth Appleton, daughter of U.S. Representative William Appleton and Mary Ann (née Cutler) Appleton. They had the following children:
- Maryanne Appleton Lawrence (1843-1882), m. Robert Amory (1842-1910)
- Amory Appleton Lawrence (1848–1912)
- William Lawrence (1850–1941), who became the Bishop of Massachusetts.
- Susan Mason Lawrence (1852–1923) and Frederic Cunningham Lawrence (1899–1989), a suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.