The Life of Robert C. Lawrence
Robert Cutting Lawrence was born 21 April 1875 in Staten Island, New York. Robert was the first-born son of Joseph and Margaretta Lawrence, with 4 siblings. He married his first wife Jessie Monteath in1886 and had two children Cathleen and Barbara. Later in 1907, he married his 2nd wife Margereta Lowe after the death of Jessie and Cathleen in 1904. He and his second wife would have 3 sons, Robert jr., Lloyd, and William, together shortly after the death of his second daughter. He was a wealthy man and lived until he was 69 before dying in 1944. Robert Cutting Lawrence lived comfortably all throughout his years and accumulated much wealth in his 69 year lifetime.
Robert being a wealthy man was able to afford many luxuries and expensive hobbies. Many of these luxuries and hobbies can be seen in his hundreds of receipts that have been collected. He owned multiple homes, one of his main homes was his cottage in Seabright, New Jersey. Some of his hobbies include horse shows, racing and getting work done on his car. Lawrence owned a horse and took wonderful care of it. He was part of a horse-riding club and even entered his personal horse into shows and races. He consistently got some kind of work done on his car, whether it was being upgraded or having a part replaced, something was being tinkered with on his vehicle. He himself never did the tinkering on his car but rather sent it to garages. However, he did care for his horse personally, buying harnesses, horseshoes, or brushes. Even without seeing the receipts it is clear that both of these hobbies would have been expensive. Of course, due to his accumulated riches he had no trouble funding these activities.
Lawrence was a highly accomplished man and even served in the military as the 1st Lieutenant in squadron “A” in 1901 before retiring sometime before 1916. One of his sons would also go on to serve in the military just like his father. He followed and kept military news clippings with at least one discussing squadron “A”. Perhaps to keep an eye what the next generation of soldiers would become.
Even more impressive was his expansive career. Lawrence worked as a lawyer, a broker of stock exchange for the firm Lawrence Co., and an importer, though, he was mainly known for his broker job with the firm Lawrence Co. He worked with a couple of different people such as Mr. Grannis, John Williamson, Duralite, and B.D Woodward, to name a few. These were men he did stock exchanges with, partnered with or were trying to convince him to become an investor. His expertise went so far as to have a stock exchange with a branch all the way in Paris.
His main job appeared to be a broker but there is evidence that he worked as a sort of private investigator too. A certain P. W. Latham asked Lawrence to look into a mining proposition and to gather information regarding the operation. We can infer he most likely had good resources in order to incur such high-profile targets and clients. As a wealthy man it is not too far off to believe he had many connections.
These connections shined not only through his business career but also his personal life. People would send letters to him requesting he put in a good word or hope he would be able to use his influence to gain them favorable outcomes. Clearly people thought of him highly and he was well respected. He had friends who would write to him to confide in him, and his children seemed to adore him. His daughter Cathleen wrote him a very cute Christmas card ‘officially’ inviting him to see their entertainment.
Although he suffered many losses in his life it appears that he lived a full, luxurious life with many achievements under his belt.
