History of Lawrence, (Essex County) Massachusetts United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Lawrence, (Essex County) Massachusetts, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

Local History Notes:

LAWRENCE, a post-town and semicapital of Essex county, Massachusetts, on the loft (N.) bank of the Merrimack river, 26 miles N. from Boston, and 12 miles N. E. by E. from Lowell. This is one of those wonderful creations of the manufacturing enterprise of New England, under the influence of which, a petty village, or perhaps a tract without inhabitants, is almost instantaneously converted into a populous city. In 1845 the Essex company constructed a dam across the Merrimack river at this place, by which a fall of 28 feet in the entire volume of the river has been obtained. The work cost about $250,000. A canal, more than a mile long, and from 60 to 100 feet wide, and about 12 feet deep, conducts the water from the dam to the different mills. The town is laid out on both sides of the Spicket river, but chiefly between the Spicket and Merrimack, with streets extending from river to river. Near the centre is a handsome common, comprising 17 1/2 acres. The principal public buildings are a town house, 120 by 62 feet, containing town offices in the lower story, and in the second a large hall for public meetings, a jail just completed, and 10 or 12 churches.

Biographies:

Helen Charlotte Peters Stevens Conant, author, was born in Methuen, Mass., Oct. 9, 1839; daughter of Abiel and Charlotte (Peters) Stevens; and granddaughter of Abiel and Abigail (Archer), Stevens, and of John and Elizabeth Farrington (Davis) Peters. Her first ancestors in America, John Stevens and Andrew Peters, were early settlers of Andover, Mass., having emigrated from England about the middle of the seventeenth century. Helen Stevens was educated by a governess and private tutors, and adopted a literary career. She was married at Lawrence, Mass., June 10, 1858, to Samuel Stillman Conant, and their son, Thomas Peters Conant, born in Paris, France, July 11, 1860, was graduated as a mining and electrical engineer from Columbia college in 1882, practised his profession, contributed to current publications, and died in New York city Feb. 24, 1891. Mrs. Conant published The Butterfly Hunters (1868); A Primer of German Literature (1877); A Primer of Spanish Literature (1878); and contributed translations, original stories and poems to magazines and newspapers. She died in Brooklyn, N.Y., April 17, 1899.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Anson Kent Cross, teacher, was born in Lawrence, Mass., Dec. 6, 1862; son of George O. and Abigail (Brown) Cross; grandson of David and Mary (Frye) Cross and of John and Caroline (Morse) Brown, and a direct descendant from Robert Cross who emigrated from England and settled in Ipswich, Mass., in 1637. Roberts son John settled in Methuen about 1680 and built the homestead which was occupied by his descendants for seven generations. His mother's family descended from the early settlers of Plymouth. Anson was educated in the public schools and was graduated at the Massachusetts normal art school in 1883. He taught freehand and mechanical drawing in the evening drawing schools of Lawrence, 1882-83; and was appointed to the faculty of the Massachusetts normal art school in 1883. He was instructor in the Boston evening drawing schools, 1883-86, and became principal in 1886. He was appointed instructor in the School of drawing and painting, Museum of fine arts, Beston, in 1891. He was made an artist member of Boston art club, 1888. He published: Freehand Drawing, Light and Shade, and Freehand Perspective (1892); Drawing in the Public Schools (1893); Mechanical Drawing (1895); Color Study (1896); Freehand Drawing (1896); Light and Shade (1897); besides Primary Lessons, Grammar Lessons, Drawing Cards, and drawing books for school use published in 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Frederic Lawrence Knowles, author, was born at Lawrence, Mass., Sept. 8, 1869; son of the Rev. Daniel Clark and Lucia (Barrows) Knowles, and grandson of the Rev. Dr. Lorenzo Dow Barrows, and of the Rev. Enoch Knowles. He was prepared for college at Tilton seminary, New Hampshire, and graduated from Wesleyan university, Middletown, Conn., A.B., in 1894. He taught in Tilton seminary, 1894-95; took a postgraduate course at Harvard in 1895-96, receiving the degree of A.B. from there in the latter year. He was editorially connected with Dana Estes & Co., L. C. Page & Co., and Houghton, Mifflin & Co., in Boston, and with the Atlantic Monthly from February to September, 1898. He edited Cap and Gown, second series (1897); The Golden Treasury of American Songs and Lyrics (1897). He is the author of: Practical Hints to Young Writers (1897); A Kipling Primer (1899); On Life's Stairway, original verse (1900). He also published three books under pseudonyms and one anonymously.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor