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Copyright © 1980-2002 Allen P Dew. All rights reserved.The following is from a paper read at the Lawrence Family Reunion in Granville County North Carolina on July 4, 1938. We think it was written by Elizabeth Mary Floyd of Oxford North Carolina. Lawrence of Ashton Hall, Lancaster and
Granville County, North CarolinaThe Lawrence Family really came from Normandy in France, but settled in England after the Norman invasion, carrying with them their Norman traditions and customs that clearly showed up, especially in architectures. Robert Lawrence of Ashton Hall was made a Knight Banneret by Richard First for bravery at the siege of Acre in 1191 during the crusade to the Holy Land. He founded the ancient and distinguished family of Lawrence of O'Lancashire.
Robert Lawrence was the first to carry the standard over the walls of Acre. This Lawrence, born in 1150, built the beautiful and interesting stronghold Ashton Hall in 1191. Ashton Hall, in its setting of gigantic firs, is one of the most artistic of the really old castles. Mellowed by wind and weather, it runs the whole gamut of warm colors from tender pinks and yellows to deep red browns and cold green grays. The soft gray lichens and deep green mosses add variety to the grimness of the old stone.
Doomsday Book calls Ashton "Estun", which means the Ash Village. The quantities of ash trees indicate fertile soil.
The old builders had no consideration for the draftsman, but seemed to use whatever was at hand regardless of design, as in the ramparts of the Norman Towers in the oldest part of Ashton Hall. One block of stone seems to be two or three feet in width and the one next to it appears only a few inches wide. The parapets may have been constructed in this irregular pattern as a means of defense.
About 200 years after Ashton Hall was built with its square towers set at right angles to the corners (to the discomfort of two daring draftsmen), the more feudal aspect of the castle was changed. The moat was filled in, a large entrance built and a high wall which still encloses the Green Court. The wide arch with Tuscan columns on either side, with an entablature, and a groined stone ceiling with good carvings are interesting features of the gateway.
The name Lawrence is derived from Laurus, which means "flourishing as a bay tree." Bay trees live hundreds of years, renewing themselves from the roots. The specimen at the entrance of Ashton Hall must be centuries old and was undoubtly planted by one of the Lawrences. The house was enlarged and beautified in the 18th century by Elizabeth Bromley, daughter of Sir John Lawrence, who had married the Duke of Hamilton. For 650 years Ashton Hall was the residence of the direct descendants of Sir Robert, but in 1850 it was sold out of the family.
Some of the interesting Lawrences who lived in Ashton Hall were Robert, son of Sir Robert, the builder of the home, and his son James, who married Matilda de Washington in 1252. Sir Henry and Lord Lawrence distinguished themselves by outstanding service in India. Nicholas Lawrence lived in Agercraft, England. One of his younger sons, Henry, settled in Greton, Massachusetts and started the Lawrence Cotton and Wool Mills. In 1792 Henry's sons, Amos and William Lawrence, founded the Groton Academy in Groton MA, which today is known as Lawrence Academy. Abbot Lawrence, one of the sons, lived at Court of St. James at Cadegan House, Piccadilly from 1849-1852.
The first Lawrence of our branch to settle in America was William Lawrence who settled in south-eastern part of Granville County in North Carolina in the year 1742. His wife Deborah, who came over on the ship with him, brought all the flowers she could and even bound a few lilies-of-the-valley, her favorite, in her handkerchief for safekeeping. Their son Abraham fought in the Revolutionary War, joining the North Carolina army at Hillsborough and leaving at the close of the war at Salisbury.
Abraham and his wife Leahannah were devout church-goers and every time there was a meeting they walked to the church and took a small lantern, not for light, but for warmth. Their son William T. and his wife Lily Pruit lived in the same old house, but their son, John Pruit and Frances Bullock, built a new homestead that still stands.
My grandparents, John W. Lawrence and Mary Elizabeth Clay, also built a home for themselves, which still stands in Granville County. The Lawrence homestead, built by John Pruit in the 1840s, is a large white rambling colonial house, built with wooden pegs instead of nails, and set in a beautiful grove, stands yet as it did many years ago in Granville County.
Lawrence Lineage-Linked Pages E-mail to Allen
Lawrence Descendant Outline Allen Dew Home Page
Copyright © 1980-2002 Allen P Dew. All rights reserved.