Lawrence, Amos Adams, 1814–86, American colonizer and philanthropist, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1835; nephew of Abbott Lawrence. A prosperous commission merchant and manufacturer of textiles, Lawrence gave liberally to abolitionist movements such as the Emigrant Aid Company. His interest in education led him to aid in the establishment of Lawrence College, Appleton, Wis., and a college at Lawrence, Kans. (the city was named for him), which became the nucleus of the Univ. of Kansas. Lawrence was also a generous benefactor of Harvard and of the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass.
See biography by his son, Bishop William Lawrence (1888, repr. 1971).
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