The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lawrence, Amos

LAWRENCE, Amos, American merchant: b. Groton, Mass., 1786; d. Boston, 31 Dec. 1852. He was educated in his birthplace at an academy founded by his father. He worked for many years as a clerk and in 1807 started at Boston a dry-goods business of his own, formed a partnership with his brother (1814) and began a large wholesale business. Lawrence and Lowell became the centres of this firm's manufacturing activity which soon placed them at the head of the cotton-spinning and weaving trade. Amos Lawrence retired from active business in 1831 through ill health and spent much of his later years in promoting works of philanthropy and patriotism. The academy at Groton, of which he was a liberal benefactor, was named Lawrence Academy in his honor (1843); he contributed liberally to the raising of the Bunker Hill monument and made large contributions to Williams College. Consult ‘Extracts from the Diary and Correspondence of Amos Lawrence with a Brief Account of Some Incidents in His Life’ (1855).