My Genealogy Hound

Isaac Lawrence made his first visit to Arkansas in the winter of 1847-48, as a commercial traveler for a mercantile house in the East. He remained two and a half months, during which time he traveled 1,600 miles in the State and Indian Territory, more than half the distance on horse-back and without weapons. His birthplace was in Connecticut, and his natal year, 1814. Trained to mercantile pursuits, he began business at the age of twenty in his native county, going thence to New York in the same business, and when so engaged made his acquaintance with Arkansas, as above stated. In 1858 he came to the State to reside, first in Washington, Hempstead County, in 1885 removing to Little Rock, where (and in Washington until business was broken up by the war) he continued trade until 1873. Soon afterward he embarked in the real-estate business, which he still pursues, handling a large amount of property in the city and country for resident and non-resident owners, besides personal transactions, building up in the meantime a substantial record for honesty and business ability. He made a profession of religion in his native State at the age of twenty-five, and has been an active member of the Old School Presbyterian Church since his removal from there. He married Miss Lucinda Kallem, of Searcy, Ark., her birth having occurred in Monroe County in 1841. Her parents were from Ohio. Mr. Lawrence’s father, Josiah Lawrence, married Phoebe (Lawrence) Faxon, widow of William Faxon and daughter of Nathaniel Lawrence, son of Daniel Lawrence, Jr. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Jonas Lawrence, his father being Capt. Isaac Lawrence. The latter was born in Groton, Mass., about 1704, and was one of the early pioneers of Western Connecticut, where he and most of his family spent their days. The old homestead is still in possession of descendants, and among the family relics preserved is a loom made from the oak tree where he (Capt. Isaac) and his family camped the first night when they came to the place where they settled (northwest part of Litchfield County) in 1738. The family have a somewhat extensive genealogy of the different branches, two different books of it having been written some years ago.