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SAMUEL CROCKER LAWRENCE

Senior Grand Warden, 1870
Grand Master, 1881-1883

TERM

1881 1882 1883

MEMORIAL

From Proceedings, Page 1911-195:

"SAMUEL CROCKER LAWRENCE ended his long life of usefulness and successful endeavor on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 24, 1911, at his pleasant home on Rural avenue in Medford, after a lingering illness that had brought to all of our hearts daily anxiety and dread during the weeks preceding his death. Although hope of his recovery had been abandoned, the announcement came with the effect of a sudden and personal bereavement, and we could hardly reconcile ourselves to feel that this great, true, noble spirit, which had been a tower of strength to our Institution, had indeed passed forever from us.

"Though his ceaseless activities in various branches of life had made him on€e of our foremost citizens, to our Fraternity and especially to our Grand Lodge the loss comes with more than usual feelings of sadness and depression.

"His devotion had been continuous from his flrst association with Freemasonry, and in both the York and Scottish Rites he stood always not only for what is best and truest, but he had also been a leader and guide wherever encouragement in existing conditions was needed, or where progression into new ones had made itself felt.

"But a memorial of a man so many-sided as was our Brother Lawrence should not be limited to his work in our Fraternity. His personality had touched on many sides of our complex social and industrial life, and in all of thdm there was exhibited his philanthropic, benevolent and charitable nature, and an intelligent and clear-minded treatment of subjects based on the best principles of business and industrial training.

"Descended from an ancestry traced back many generations to the old English family of that name, his progenitor in this country was John Lawrence, who settled in Watertown in 1635, - the same stock thrt produeed the historical command : "Don't give up the ship!"

"Our Brother Lawrence was born in Medford, Nov. 22, l832, the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Crocker Lawrence, and with the exception of two years speht in the banking business in Chicago in 1858-9, made his home in that place until his death.

"Fitting for college in the Medford schools and at Lawrence Academy in Groton, he graduated at Harvard number 13 in the famous class of 1855, his eminence in seholarship pntitling him to membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society; in 1858 he received the additional degree of A.M. from his Alma Mater. Among his classmates were Alexander Agassiz, Bishop Brooks, Frank R. Sanborn, Gen. R. S. Barlow, Edwin H. Abbot, Robert Treat Paine and Theodore Lyman; while with him in college were men bearing such familiar names as Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, Ex-president Eliot, Ex-mayor Green of Boston and Professor Pierce, the mathematician.

"Soon after college came his career as a banker in Chicago under the firm name of Bigelow & Lawrence, from which he soon returned to continue the business of his father, of which from 1867 he was the sole proprietor, under the uame of Daniel Lawrence & Sons, until 1905, the two hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the settlement of Medford, when it was discontinued.

"Among other plominent features of General Lawrence's life was his interest in military affairs. While fitting for college at Groton he was captain of a boys' company attached to the academy, and so won the attention of Boston's great philanthropist, Amos Lawrence, that $100 was presented by him for the benefit of the company. The year he graduated from college found him third tieutenant in Company E, 5th Massachusetts Infantry, called the Lawrence Light Guard in honor of his father; in 1856 he was its captain, and on his return from the West became major and colonel of the regiment to which it was attached.

"Believing war inevitable between the North and South, he urged upon Governor Banks and Governor Andrew the necessity for preparedness, and acting on this belief he engaged an officer of the French army to instruct his regiment in tactics and drill, hiring at his own expense the hall over the Fitchburg Railroad station in Boston, and thus was prepared, when Sumter was fired upon, April 12, 1861, with a command ready equipped for the fleld. Marching orders were issued on the 18th of April, and the same night his brother, our own R.W. Daniel W. Lawrence, took horse to notify the regiment, covering the route taken just eighty-six years before, by Paul Revere, on his famous midnight ride "for the country folk to be up and to arm." In both cases,

"The spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat."

"The next day all the companies reported at Boston, few having bad time to set their homes in order, and some not saying a last farewell.

"The record of his regiment is historic. At the flrst Bull Run fight it held its ground and continued the battle three hours after General Heintzleman had declared all was lost. Colonel Lawrence, bravely facing danger, was wounded and left for dead on the field, but being discovered by his adjutant was revived and carried by slow stages to the Union lines; suffering from his wounds, he returned with his command to Boston and was enthusiastically received. His injuries and state of health forbade his returning to the field, yet after the terrible disasters in the Shenandoah Yalley he again reported at the head of his regiment for active duty, but, the national capital being no longer in danger, his services were not required.

"At the outbreak of the war President Lincoln had already offered him a colonelcy in the Regular Army, but this he declined by reason of his strong attachment to his own homeboys, with whom he desired to rernain. During his two weeks in Washington with his regiment, however, a warm friendship existed between the President and himself, which was a source of pride and comfort to him during his entire life.

"On July 9, 1862, he was comrnissioned brigadier general by Governor Andrew, which position he resigned Aug. 20, 1864. He reported for active service during the draft riots of 1863.

"After the war and during the remainder of his life, he continued his zealous interest in and connection with military affairs; he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Loyal Legion, and other veterau organizations; and as an active member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, he was its Commander in 1869; in June last, at the two hundred and seventy-third anniversary of the company, he was Senior Past Commander and acted as escort to the Governor, marching over the route and participating in the review on the Common with the apparent vigor and strength of former years.

"An appropriate tribute to his military life was the posting of a guard of honor at the head and foot of the casket as he lay in state in the magnificent armory at Medford; the grizzled, veterans of '61 and the boys of '98 standing at rest, in perfect military form, as the last guard of their old comrade and commander, whose heroic character had so appealed to the spirits and aspirations of both.

"This armory was erected by him in honor of his father; and besides being a military monument in itself, it contains an extensive library of military and naval historical pictures, writings and relics, while for the company using it is a fully equipped rifle range which has graduated some of the champion militia shots of our country, - all the product of his munificence.

His name was revered in military circles, - Grand Army Posts, Sons of Veterans, and other organizations honoring themselves by adopting it. But he is now at rest with his old comrades of the Army, and has joined the great majority, where,

"On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead."

Though always deeply interested in public affairs he generally declined public office, accepting, however, the honor of Presidential Elector, and for forty-three years was trustee of the public library in his town and city which he.had profusely enriched from his own funds with hundreds of volumes and works of art; he also made an exception when his native town became a city, and accepted at the hands of his grateful friends and neighbors the compliment of being elected its first Mayor for the two years of 1893-4.

"In his long and successful career in the business and financial world, General Lawrence's name was the synonym of honesty and upright dealing, while his achievements spelled success in every venture; - not the success resulting from chance, or a favorable condition of the times, but accomplished by his own energy and industry and the application of the higher principles of life to his dealings between man and man, and so he was naturally sought for positions of trust and importance in the business world.

"Besides being vice-president and trustee of the savings bank in his own town, he was one of the committee to reorganize the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and was a director of the St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad, the Washington County Railway, the Somerset Railway, the Boston & Maine and the Maine Central Railroads ; and in these, as in all other positions which he held, he took a pride in their successful and honest management, always regarding himself as a trustee for stockholders, the public, and all interested, rather than as one whose opportunity it was to make for his own concern the most that could be made at the expense of others.

"He was assiduous in his devotion to the affairs of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of which, at the time of his death, he was the senior surviving director; here ably seconding its president, Judge Henry L. Palmer, for so many years the honored head of the Scottish Rite branch of our Masonry and whom he succeeded in that position. Under their management the affairs of the company were so advanced that at the time of the life insurance scandals in New York City, which provoked an investigation of the management of the three great companies of this country, resulting in disgraceful disclosures, the Northwestern Company had achieved the position of fourth in size; but there never was a breath of suspicion as to its dealings with its policy-holders or the public, or with the condition of ite funds. Faithfully and economically managed by these men and their associates, it is a monument to the honesty and efficiency of such men as Brother Lawrence and his associates.

"In railroad affairs, to which he brought the best experiences of business success, he was more occupied in saving and upbuilding than in wrecking, in which so many rich men indulged themselves befole the practice became unprofitable under the Sherman law. After a careful research into the affairs of the Eastern Railroad, when he was elected a director in 1875, and finding it in a ruinous condition, he promptly made known the actual condition of the company and, assiduously devoting all his energy and his personal wealth to rebuilding the property, he averted bankruptcy and placed the company on a business basis; during his directorate the stock rose from $3. where it had fallen, to $150 a share when the Eastern was consolidated with the Boston & Maine Railroad, and he continued for many years as a director. His work was an object lesson for railroad magnates, and with such men as he in power there would be less distrust in public service management.

"The result was a credit to our State and Nation, and in marked contrast to those that have followed the late merger, which he vigorously opposed, - aided and ably supported by the tireless devotion of his son, our own R.W. William B. Lawrence, in the endeavor to prevent what he foresaw would be a serious loss to shareholders, and unfortunate for New England.

"In all these actions, as in every-day life, he was governed by the highest ideals of what he regarded as the whole duty of man. Inheriting ample means, which he increased by his own prudence and ability, he despised that ostentatious display of riches so common among wealthy men and avoided those extravagances which scandalize private life at home and damage the reputation of our country abroad. He regarded his weaith as a trust fortunately given to anci acquired by him, which, as it had come from the people, should, in some measure at least, be devoted to their uses, and should never be employed for the base purposes of deriving more from them. This spirit showed itself in the large expenditures of money and of time given to aid his community in exterminating the gypsy and other moth-pests which, originating in his city, have devastated large portions of the country; while his extensive plantantion at Florida was more like a government experiment station to exploit the growth of fruits and products than a winter resort for his own benefit. In this he worked for many years in conjunction with the Government to solve problems of fruit culture.

"But it was in his benefactions to the individual that his great nature was seen; although gifts of this character, under his last will, are numerous, he did not wait for its probate to distinguish himself by public comment and approval; his charities during life had been extensive but unostentatious, endeavoring as he said to devote at least one-half his income to benevolent purposes; and when he appeared to be extravagant, to claim that it cost him nothing as his heirs were paying for it; the general public knew little of his benefactions, for he intended that his left hand should not know what his right hand was doing. He has gone to his grave with more of the grateful praise that comes from the useful employment of riches than applies to the generality of the wealthy men of our day and generation. Ideally does he fill the thought of the poet:

"If any little love of miue may make a life the sweeter,
If any little care of mine may make another life completer,
If any lift of mine may ease the burrlen of another,
God give me love and care and strength, to help my toiling brother."

"This world is not a fleeting show
For man's illusion given;
He that hath soothed the widow's woe,
Or wiped the orphan's tear doth know,
There's something here of heaven."

"While still in college, Brother Lawrence became interested in Freemasonry, and during his junior year at Harvard College, Oct. 26, 1854, he received his degrees in Hiram Lodge of what is now Arlington; becoming later one of the charter members of Mt. Hermon Lodge, and.at the time of his death their only survivor. He was the sixth Master of this Lodge, from October, 1862, until January, 1865.

"His devotion to the Craft was continuous, and during his active Masonic life he had attained official position in almost every body, subordinate and Grand, through all its branches. Elected Senior Grand Warden of our Grand Lodge in 1870, he had served since 1869 as one of the Board of Directors, and was our Most Worshipful Grand Master in 1881-2-3.

"He took a great interest in our Board of Directors and in our Masonic Education and Charity Trust; of the latter he had been a member and its Treasurer since its organization in January, 1885; and it was his pride to feel that both these bodies to the time of his death maintained, on the one hand, a high standard of true Masonic charity, and on the other, the conservative business and financial principles that should characterize great institutions of this kind.

"During his three years as Grand Master, through his untiring efforts more than those of any other one man, the debt on our old Masonic Temple, amounting to nearly $400,000, was finally paid. To inspire the Brethren with a desire and duty on their part to lift this burden, he traveled over the State at his own expense, urging and encouraging, teaching and directing the Fraternity how to do it.

"He was of that old school of Brethren who regarded with jealousy any infringement on the landmarks of Masonry; a school of such men as Judge Drummond, Judge Palmer, Judge Gardner, and our own Brother Nickerson, who, having Iearned by their research and experience that the strength and lasting qualities of Masonry are to be found in the Blue Lodge degrees, and that the Grand Lodge is the foundation on which the superstructure is built, knew that any growth or construction maintained on lines less stable than the foundation, is just so weak and inefficient as a lasting Masonic organization. Thus he held in veneration the Grand Lodges, whose regulations and rulings should 'not be lightly or unadvisedly' set aside by local rules or regulations of any other body calling itself Grand or Supreme; in this, as in other matters of principle, he exhibited a consistency and strength of character that is an example to be emulated and followed.

"In the York Rite he joined St. Paul's Royal Arch Chapter June 13, 1855, and becoming a charter member of Mystic Royal Arch Chapter of Medford in 1864, served in various posts until he became Most Excellent High Priest and District Deputy Grand High Priest.

"He became a charter member of Medford Council, Royal and Select Masters, in 1869, having previously received his degrees in Boston Council.

"De Molay Commandery, Knights Templars, conferred on him the Orders of Knighthood in 1856. Joining Boston Commandery in 1858, he became its Eminent Commander in October, 1873, for two years.

"He was an honorary member of Joseph Warren Commandery of Boston, St. John's Commandery of Philadelphia, and Apollo Commandery of Chicago.

"He was Deputy Grand Commander in 1875, and in 1894 was elected Grand Commander of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

"At the Triennial Conclave of the Grand Encampment held in Boston in 1895 he was its master spirit, contributing most generously from his personal funds to its success, and honoring our Fraternity by his splendid appearance at the head of his Grand Commandery, giving a character to the Institution that has become almost a Masonic tradition. The Committee on the Conclave testified their regard and esteem by presenting him an elaborate bronze vase.

"In Scottish Rite Masonry his talents and abilities have been employed to a degree that would amount to a life-work in any great industry or business undertaking. Foremost in achieving the union of the two rival bodies of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, May 17, 1867, of which union he was the last surviving active member, he had remained uutil the days of his last illness a most zealous and interested participant in all that pertained to the successful advancement of its interests.

"He became a Scottish Rite Mason in 1862, receiving the Thirty-third Degree Dec. 20, 1864. Two years later, Dec. 14, 1866, he was crowned as one of the active list. Before the union he had held office under the Rite, and during the many years of his active life filled subordinate offices, besides that of Deputy for Massachusetts, and passing through the chair of state became Puissant Grand Lieutenant Commander, which office he occupied until the retirement as Grand Commander of Judge Palmer, May 1, 1909, whom he succeeded, only to see him pass away within six days thereafter. Subsequently elected Grand Commander, he resigned in 1910.

"At the first general conference of the Supreme Councils of the world, held in Brussels, Belgium in 1907, he headed the delegation from our Northern Jurisdiction, filling the position with great credit and with a marked degree of success; his great worth was recognized and appreciated not only there but in London where, with Illustrious Brothers Smith and Gallagher, he was received by the Supreme Councils of England, Ireland and Scotland, and accorded high honors.

"He had been a charter member of several subordinate bodies under the Consistory, and in 1878 received the degree of the Royal Order of Scotland, and was one of the original members of the Provincial Grand Lodge of the United States ae well as of the home body in Scotland.

"Notable and preëminent in his Masonic life was his great service to its financial side. In every body of which he was a member he was either trustee or treasurer of its funds, to all of which he had been more instrumental, probably, than any other in their creation and growth, and the conservation and practical usefulness of which he guarded with jealous care. In this he was merely applying those principles of business which, given to any undertaking, result in success; and while he abated not his zeal in his devotion to the symbolism and ritual of our Order; while he exemplified in every detail the spirit of friendship, charity and loyalty, and every virtue that should characterize the good Mason; he applied his best conservative business endeavors to maintaining the institution and all the bodies in it with which he was connected, on a basis that should be not only useful and valuable but permanent and lasting. How well he has performed his work we all know. How meagre is the language that shall endeavor to record his acts and character so that future generations shall understand him and know him as we did; but we can say of him that in our Grand Lodge and in all the bodies of each of the rites, he was justly regarded at the time of his death as the foremost Mason of our country. His life and character have shed lustre on our Institution, and have given it a position and standing such as comes from a valuable association.

"It would be difficult to state in one or few words the key-note of General Lawrence's character. Whatever it was, there was evolved from it the grace and kindliness, the benevolence and philanthropy which distinguished him. Every impulse in life was subordinated to his better nature, which some thought at times overruled his judgment. He took pleasure in bestowing, and for his reward received the gratifying knowledge that some one had been benefited. There was in him

"That best portion of a good man's life, -
His little, nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and of love."

"His nature led him to love his fellow-men, and thus the social instincts were constant and insistent; he enjoyed contact with widely differing classes. This fondness for social and fraternal life led to his early devotion to Masonry, but its symbolism and ritual and its ethical and moral messages appealed to him, while the desire to assist in building permanently and strongly attracted him to its details and administration.

"If in addition to this gentle and sentimental side we were to attempt to characterize him, we would say -

"Here is a man living in his full faculties nearly ten years beyond the time allotted by the Psalmist; possessing a big, generous, loving, sympathetic heart, combined with a head for business affairs; always with plenty of time to do any good thing; actively patriotic and loyal to his country both in peace and war; one who can listen as well as talk, and is always ready to let others have their say; patient with misfortune and even weakness, but intolerant of wrong or oppression; incapable of being bribed or cajoled; one who, being true to himself, expects truth from others; who has traveled enough of the varions ways of life 'to know that there is only one way tolive, and that is the right way ; only one way to do business, and that is the truthful way; only one way to work, and that is the efficient way.'

"The tender, heartfelt, devoted and magnificent tribute of neighbors, friends, associates and Brethren on the day of the funeral, Sept. 27, 1911, in and about the beautiful armory building at Medford, is familiar to so many that auy effort to put it into words merely emphasizes the poverty of our mother tongue in attempting to reproduce it and its impressions.

"While the body lay in state, thousands of neighbors and friends passed his bier, gazing for the last time on him who had so honored them and their community by his character and example for all that makes the summit of high ideals in citizenship ; and while the mute, ceaseless cortege passed, and during the remainder of the day, all activities in public and private life of the city were suspended as a mark of respect for his memory.

"Not in our day and generation has there been so natural and spontaneous an outpouring of devotion, love and respect as was here shown; - without the attractious of a great parade, unattended by any of the trappings of ritual, military, or civil official organization, quietly, peacefully, earnestly, from every walk of life and from every body with which he was connected, men came to pay their last tlibute of esteem; where whole bodies could not be accommodated, they came by committee or delegation; and a great throng was there 'to worship and bow down' at the simple yet inrpressive rites that attended his last day on earth.

"Among the Masonic Fraternity every body of which he was a member whs represented, while it is fair to say that every permanent member of our Grand Lodge and every Mason of the Thirty-third Degree who was abie to do so attended the services, coming from a score or more of different States and some from a thousand miles away; by all other organizations - college, military, social, civil, religious - with which he was connected, the same spirit was shown; the floral offerings, testifying that deep regard that accompanies a desire to be more than a personal part of the ceremouy, came from organizations, associations, neighbors and friends, in quantity and kind surpassing the most generous profusion accorded to a great ruler; every available portion of that great armory was filled, while without, thousands filled the streets, silently had in spirit accompanying the mourning services within; the impressive rendering of music dear to him by the Harvard Quartet, followed by prayer and eulogy from our and his devoted friend and brother, Illustrious and Worshipful Dr. Frederick W. Hamilton, in which all joined in silent devotion, comprised the last ceremonials of farewell to that good and great man. Would space permit in this form of a Memorial, which for our Proceedings must be more of narrative than eulogy, your Committee would feel proud to adopt a reproduction of that complete, comprehensive and impressive tribute of Brother Hamilton in their attempt 'to put in words the grief one feels,' and thus fitter and better chosen words would appear on your records than can come from our pen.

"Brother Lawrence's remains reached their final resting-place at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, where pravers were said at the interment.

"And so he passed from us, having lived a life full of goodness, greatness and religious activity; not as does an active professor of a form of worship, but as one who did the will of his Master, - who, finding suffering all around, gave what he could to cheer and raise.

"I deem his faith the best
Who daily puts it into loving deeds
Done for the poor, the sorrowing, the oppressed -
For these are more than creeds;
One hand outstretched to man
In helpfulness, the other clings to God;
And thus upheld he walks through Time's brief span
In ways that Jesus trod.

"But while the mortal part has gone, he will he will ever live with us in minds and memories that are made better by having known him and his good deeds. He and his name will ever be an inspiration and an example.

"To his bereaved widow, who was his constant companion through a long and happy domestic life, and whose charm and grace of manner so endeared herself to all his associates and friends whose good fortune it was to have met her in company with him, we offer that warm feeling of sincere sympathy that comes from hearts presuming to share in the common loss that is thus heavily borne, and pray that He who has us all in His keeping may strengthen and sustain her in her affiiction.

"To his children we extend our deepest sympathy, and especially to our beloved associate, R.W. Bro. William B. Lawrence, who has so manfully aided and sustained his father in trying times, and who has kindly consented to continue such of his father's good work as we shall find for him to do, we offer the homage and sympathy of a brother and friend.

"Surviving his younger brother after a companionship of nearly fourscore years, still strong in health of mind and body, beloved, respected and esteemed, we take to our hearts with the same tender feelings of regard that the memory of his brother awakens, and pray that the good Father of us all will preserve him in health and strength for many years - our own beloved R.W. Brother, Daniel W. Lawrence.

"Our final word is said, but as we began this Memorial with words employed by our late Brother in life, so we close with a tribute quoted by him on the death of Judge Palmer, his long-time friend and associate:

Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark.

"The full, rich day of a splendid manhood fading slowly into the beautiful twilight of a serene old age; accumulated honors; the respeot, the esteem, and beyond all the sincere love of mankind; life's work grandly done; life's duties bravely discharged; peacefully, ideally he has crossed the bar and passed out outo the broad bosom of Eternity's boundless sea.

"Not with pomp and circumstance, not with the usual trappings of the great, nor in the market-place, nor along publicity's white way, with its confusion and its shouting; but rather with strength and dignity he followed ever where duty led, up quiet paths to the very summit of achievement, to an eminence which few attain."

Respectfully submitted,

Edwin B. Holmes,
Charles T. Gallagher,
John Albert Blake,
Committee.

NOTES

CHARTERS GRANTED

• 09/14/1881 Granite, Northbridge
• 03/04/1882 Satucket, East Bridgewater

RULINGS

None.

Grand Masters