Amos Lawrence was an American merchant and philanthropist. He was a head of the firm A. & A. Lawrence from 1814 to 1831.
Background
Amos Lawrence was the fourth child of Samuel and Susanna Parker Lawrence of Groton, Massachussets, the parents of a family of six sons and three daughters. Five of the sons grew to manhood, of whom four became successful merchants, one a successful lawyer. He was the brother of Abbott and William Lawrence.
Career
Amos Lawrence was apprenticed at the age of thirteen to a merchant in Dunstable and at the age of twenty-one, having served his apprenticeship, went to Boston, where, after working a short period as a clerk, he set up in business for himself. In the following year (1808) he took in his younger brother, Abbott, as an apprentice and in 1814, when he became of age, made him a partner. The firm of A. & A. Lawrence, as it was called, soon became the most successful mercantile firm of its time. Amos Lawrence was the head of the firm until the year 1831, when his health broke down and forced his retirement from active business. He was an invalid for the remaining twenty-one years of his life.
From early youth he had been exceptionally industrious, thrifty, and temperate. Before leaving Groton for Boston, he had formed the habits of total abstinence from alcoholic liquor and tobacco, which he maintained throughout his life and, as soon as his means permitted, he showed a deep sense of the obligations of men of wealth toward the poor and needy. His invalidism in early middle life caused him to make a business of philanthropy at an age when most successful business men are still absorbed in the accumulation of wealth. It was his practice to give money, food, clothing, books, and other necessaries day by day, wherever it seemed to him that they were likely to do good. He kept a supply of such commodities always on hand in his house and devoted much time to personal supervision of their distribution. A memorandum, which he prepared in the last year of his life, shows that during the preceding ten years he had given away approximately five-sixths of his entire income during that period. The amount of these gifts, which was over half a million dollars, was exceeded by the benefactions of other rich men in his day, but in no case were more pains taken to make the gifts appropriate and helpful.
Much of Amos Lawrence's giving was in small amounts, and not a little of it anonymous. The principal recipients of the larger sums were educational institutions. He was always loyal to the academy at Groton, in which he secured his early education, and left a substantial endowment by his will in addition to many gifts during his lifetime. He was also a generous benefactor of Williams College, in which he became interested through his admiration for its president, Mark Hopkins. He took a deep interest also in the erection of Bunker Hill Monument and was the principal contributor to the building fund.
Along with his benefactions went much good advice, often in the form of letters carefully written out by his own hand. After his death, those were collected by one of his sons and, at the request of members of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union and the Boston Young Men's Christian Association as well as of students at Williams College, many of them were published under the title, Extracts from the Diary and Correspondence of the Late Amos Lawrence (1855). This book gained wide popularity among the young men of the time.
Amos Lawrence was a man of strong religious feeling. Brought up in the old Puritan tradition, he joined the Brattle Street church on removing to Boston and always remained a member of that congregation. But he was not wholly satisfied with the rather cold and intellectual type of Unitarianism which flourished in Boston at that period, and in his benefactions he confined himself to no creed.
He took much less interest in politics than in religion. He was originally a Federalist of the school of Hamilton and Jay, and in later life was a loyal Whig. Like so many Boston merchants, he was a strong admirer of Daniel Webster, whom he presented with a service of silver in evidence of his appreciation, not long after the great debate with Senator Hayne of South Carolina. But he had no desire to hold public office himself. He was a Whig presidential elector in 1852, but he refused to contribute to the campaign fund of his brother Abbott in 1848, when the latter was a candidate for the vice-presidential nomination on the ticket with General Taylor, saying that "if my vote would make my brother Vice-President, I would not give it, as I think it lowering his good name to accept office of any sort, by employing such means as are now needful to get votes. " Later he rejoiced when his brother refused a place in General Taylor's cabinet, though he had supported "Old Zach" for president.
Achievements
Connections
Amos Lawrence was twice married. His first wife, Sarah Richards, daughter of Giles Richards of Boston, whom he married June 6, 1811, died in 1819. Two years later he married Nancy (Means) Ellis, widow of Judge Ellis of Claremont, New Hampshire, and daughter of Robert Means of Amherst, New Hampshire. He had three sons and a daughter, one of whom, Amos Adams Lawrence, also attained distinction as a merchant and philanthropist.