Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
L. L. Lawrence
L. L. Lawrence, President of the Wayne Agricultural Company, was born in Monroe County, N. Y., in 1821, a son of Erastns and Harriet (Woodford) Lawrence, his father a native of Vermont and his mother of Hartford, Conn. He was reared and educated in his native State, and in 1847, with his father and brother, James W., came to Indiana and located at Dublin, where the brothers succeeded the Witt Brothers, manufacturers of stoves. They continued that business till 1852, retailing their stoves by teams over Eastern Indiana. In 1852 they sold their shops to Binkley, Davis & Co., who began the manufacture of threshers and farm implements. In 1858 L. L. bought a third interest in the business, and the firm name was changed to Davis, Lawrence & Co. Jan. 20, 1871, it was organized into a joint stock company, with a capital stock of $80,000, with Norton Davis, President, and L. L. Lawrence, Vice-President, the name being changed to the Wayne Agricultural Company. Since 1872 Mr. Lawrence has been President of the company. Nov. 17, 1873, the company increased their capital stock to $100,000. In 1875 Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Sutton were instrumental in having the enterprise moved to Richmond, and at that time the company was organized, retaining the same name. The present Board of Directors are: L. L. Lawrence, William Baxter, David Sutton, B. G. Kelly, Edward Sutton and Hugh Moffitt. Mr. Baxter is Vice-President and Thadeus Wright, Secretary. Mr. Lawrence has through life been a practical manufacturer and is now at the head of one of the leading factories in Eastern Indiana. He was married in 1856 to Susan I. Underwood, of Washington City.
Source:
History of Wayne County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884. Volume 2