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The township of Lawrence was organized from Tioga and Elkland townships in December, 1816. The borough of Lawrence was organized May, 1881, taken from the township of Lawrence. The history of the township and borough are so intimately connected that they will be treated under one head.
It was upon the banks of the Tioga River that the first white man made a settlement within the limits of Tioga County. Samuel Baker, afterwards Judge Baker of Steuben County, N.Y., settled upon the west bank of the Tioga River, in the year 1787 and resided there until the year 1794, when General Williamson induced him to purchase lands of the Pultney estate, which he did and located in Pleasant Valley, Steuben County, N. Y., until his death in the year 1840, at the advanced age of 80 years.
Lawrence township is bounded on the north by the state line between New York and Pennsylvania, on the east by Jackson township, on the south by Tioga township and Farmington and on the west by Farmington and Nelson. The northern boundary of the borough of Lawrenceville is the state line, the other boundaries are the township of Lawrence. This borough is situated ninety miles west of the Delaware river, on a parallel of 42 degrees. The Tioga and Cowanesque rivers unite a few rods north of its northern boundary in the township of Lindley, N.Y.
Daniel Walker came to Lawrenceville in 1810.
St. John’s Episcopal Church organized in 1860.
Curtis Parkhurst located at Lawrenceville in 1816.
J. F. Rusling, Esq., settled in Lawrenceville in 1860.
Iron foundry established in Lawrenceville in the year 1812.
Lawrenceville Lodge, No. 913, I.O.O.F., instituted July 14, 1875.
Dr. Lewis Darling, Sr., graduated at Dartmouth College in the year 1829.
The Lawrenceville Academy was formed in 1849, by Rev. Sidney Mills.
From 1845 to 1860, Lawrenceville was the centre of a great lumber trade.
Lawrenceville Equitable Aid Union, No. 198, established Dec. 18, 1880.
Lawrenceville Encampment of Patriarchs, No. 227, instituted April 22, 1878.
Dr. L. Granger, settled in Lawrenceville, in 1845 and practiced medicine about forty years.
Lawrenceville Herald, a weekly newspaper, established by A. Redfield & Son, in the year 1880.
In the year 1831, the C. L. Ford dwelling was erected. It was the second brick building in the county.
In 1816 Hon. James ford erected a dwelling, which for many years was known as the "Ford Mansion."
In 1806 Eleazer Baldwin settled at Lawrenceville. Dr. Simeon Power also made a settlement the same year.
Hon. James Ford served two terms in the state Legislature and two terms in Congress of the United States.
Lathrop and Dunning are stations in Lawrence township, on the Corning, Cowanesque and Antrim Railroad.
Somer’s Lane and Tioga Junction are stations in Lawrence township on the Tioga and Elmira State Line Railroad.
Lawrenceville Fire Department organized March 5th, 1859. Kasson Parkhurst foreman of the engine company and Austin Lathrop, Jr., of the hose company.
The Valley Enterprise, a weekly newspaper, founded by Henry C. Mills in 1871; in 1872 office removed to Mansfield.
Dr. Lewis Darling, Sr., located at Lawrenceville, in the year 1831, and practiced medicine over fifty years in that place.
The Corning, Cowanesque and Antrim Railroad, and the Tioga and Elmira State Line Railroad each have a depot at Lawrenceville.
Hon. John Ryon, of Lawrenceville, elected member of the state legislature in 1822, representing Tioga and Bradford counties.
Samuel Baker was the first settler within the borough limits of Lawrenceville and the first in the county. William Holden settled soon thereafter.
Hiram Beebe, a prominent business man, settled at Lawrenceville in 1815. He was the first treasurer of the Tioga Navigation Company, afterwards the Corning and Blossburg Railroad Company.
The first Methodist Church was erected in 1836. The structure was of brick. The church organization becoming involved, the church edifice was purchased by Peter Reep, Esq., and torn down. New church built in 1849.
In 1816 the settlers at Lawrenceville consisted of Hon. James Ford, Judge Ira Kilburn, Jacob Geer, Curtis Parkhurst, Micazah Seeley, Daniel Walker, Hiram Beebe, Dr. Simeon Power, John Ryon, Eleazer Baldwin, and William Holden.
Lawrence and Lawrenceville were named in honor of Captain James Lawrence of the navy, who was killed during the war of 1812, while he was commanding the United States ship Chesapeake in its encounter with the British ship Shannon. Hon. James Ford gave it the name.
The First Presbyterian Church, organized in Lawrenceville, by Rev. Daniel Higgins, of Bath, N.Y., and Rev. Henry Ford of Elmira, in the year 1824. Rev. E. D. Wells became the stated pastor in the year 1831. The first ruling elders were Johnson Butts, John Peters, Loren Butts, Erastus Butts. The first trustees were Hon. James Ford, Hon. Curtis Parkhurst and Micazah Seeley.
In 1834 the business men of Lawrenceville were Hon. James Ford, merchant and lumberman; Judge Ira Kilburn, lumberman; Job Greer, contractor and builder; Curtis Parkhurst, physician, lumberman and real estate dealer; Micazah Seeley, lumberman and merchant; Daniel Walker, farmer; Hiram Beebe, merchant and lumberman; Lewis Darling, physician; John Barnes, contractor and hotel keeper; Pardon Damon, lawyer; Joel Adams, tanner, currier and shoemaker; Samuel Chapman and Samuel Bogert, blacksmiths; Job Herrick, groceryman; Simeon Power, physician; Clark Slawson, inn keeper; E. D. Wells, Presbyterian minister; Henry Potter hotel keeper and farmer, Johnson and Loren Butts, carpenters and joiners; Erastus Butts, stone mason; Alanson Beebe, glove maker; Asa Lincoln, Merchant; Norman Purple, lawyer; Ralph Kimball, doctor; ______Higgins, lawyer; Pleny Powers, doctor; Lemuel Maynard, minister, father of Hon. John W. Maynard, Rev. Mr. Platt,a Baptist minister; Calvin Cowley, lumberman; Clarendon Rathbone, lawyer and real estate dealer; William Seeley, farmer; Daniel Seeley, gentleman; Moses Baldwin and Buel Baldwin, farmers.
