History
E. J. Lawrence
Edward Jones Lawrence, a classic example of "the self-made man", was born on January 1, 1833, in Fairfield Center, Maine, to James and Annie Lander Lawrence. He was educated through the sixth grade in the local public school. After working for a short time as a farm hand he was hired as a clerk in a general store in Norridgewock. The bookkeeper recognizing E. J.'s potential taught him bookkeeping, and recommended him to the Wing and Bates Lumber Company in Gardiner. There he learned about the lumbering business and was eventually placed in charge of the Wing and Bates mill in Shawmut. With his brother George and various other partners he built a business that became the largest industries in the state, and he was noted for his care and concern for the welfare of his employees and for their families.
A number of local banks failed in 1877 due to banks printing paper money without having the same value of gold in their vaults. E. J. ran for the State legislature on the greenback ticket and was elected. He proposed laws that would guarantee workers safe working conditions and pay commensurate with the nature of their work. He also promoted a bill allowing only the federal government to print paper money. He met with some success in the first purpose and with complete success on the paper money issue.
In the Genealogy of the State of Maine of 1903 E. J. is described as ("a man of the highest integrity, firm in character and strong in purpose, energetic and enterprising, sagacious and prudent in business, he stands among the foremost of the business men, not only in his county, but in his state.")
E. J. Lawrence was married in 1868 to Hannah Miller Shaw of Carmel. They had three daughters. Their first, Annie, born in 1870 died in 1886; Addie was born in 1873 and Alice in 1879. Both girls were talented. Addie went to the ART Students/ League in New York where she was about to launch a career as a portrait painter when her mother's ill health and financial difficulties brought her back to Fairfield. E. J. said of her that because of her astute understanding of business she was to him all that a son could have been.
Alice was barely seven when Annie died. Hannah was so emotionally disturbed by the death that it seemed better for the two girls to be out of the home. They were sent to a boarding school in Quincy, Massachusetts. There they discovered Alice's talent for music and eventually she went to live in the home of John Carver Alden, a pianist of note, where she had both instruction in music and a warm loving environment. In 1909 she married Walter T. Daub and went to live in Queens, New York. They had two girls, Mary Lawrence and Anna Miller, but they were divorced in 1919 and Alice returned to Fairfield to live with Addie.
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Miss Addie Lawrence |
Mrs. (Alice) Walter Daub |
Addie had been influential in getting a public library for Fairfield. In 1896 she, Mary Newhall and Frances Kenrick had started a circulating library in a tiny room over Holt's store on Main Street. It shortly became too small and the bank offered the young women a room in their building. Once again it quickly became obvious that more space was needed, and Addie convinced her father that the town needed a public free library. At the town meeting in March 1900, the town accepted E. J.'s offer of a library and on July 25, 1901, the library was dedicated.
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Lawrence High School - 1907 |
Lawrence Public Library |
Mr. Lawrence was a generous benefactor. In March 1900 his offer to give a free public library to the town was accepted at the town meeting and the building was dedicated and opened to the public on July 25, 1901. Mr. E. J. Lawrence was also the benefactor of the Lawrence High School. The Architect for the library and high school was William R. Miller.