Henry LAWRENCE (1586 – 1664) was Alex’s 12th Great Grandfather; one of 8,192 in this generation of the Shaw line.
Lawrence – Coat of Arms – Immigrant Ancestor
Henry Lawrence was baptized 10 Apr 1586 in Wissett, Suffolk, England. His parents were John LAWRENCE and Joan FRUSTENDEN. He married Mary WEST in 1608 in Wissett, Suffolk, England. He came to the American Colonies in 1630. Henry and his wife, Mary West were the first Lawrence’s to come over from England. Henry died 2 Jun 1664 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass.
Angel – St Andrew, Wissett, Suffolk, England
Henry was baptized and married at St Andrew Church, Wissett, Suffolk, England
15th C Norwich School Glass, St Andrew, Wissett, Suffolk, England
Mary West was born in 1579 in Wisset, Suffolk, England. Mary died 3 May 1647 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass.
Children of Henry and Mary:
| Name | Born | Married | Departed | |
| 1. | John LAWRENCE | baptized on 8 Oct 1609 in Wisset, Norwich, Suffolk, England | Elizabeth COOKE 1635 Watertown, Mass . Susanna Batchelder 2 Nov 1664 Charlestown, Middlesex, Mass |
11 Jul 1667 Groton, Mass |
| 2. | Robert Lawrence | 6 Sep 1612 in Wisset Norwich, Suffolk, England | Elizabeth [_?_] 1637 in England |
1666 Nansemond, Virginia |
Henry’s father’s will records that he had removed to New England.
Henry is on the lists of those who became inhabitants of Charlestown, Mass in 1635.
In the first division of land on the Mystick side, of ten acres to a house, five of which were given in for after-comers, as it appears 20 Feb 1638, Henry Lawrence received five acres.
Mystick Side, originally part of Charlestown, was renamed Malden. It is a hilly woodland area, north of the Mystic River, that was settled by Puritans in 1640 on land purchased in 1629 from the Pawtucket Indians. Malden was incorporated as a separate town in 1649. In 2009 Malden was ranked as the “Best Place to Raise Your Kids” in Massachusetts by Businessweek Magazine
Malden, Middlesex, Mass
A Genealogical Memoir of the Families of Lawrences with a Direct Male Line from Sir Robert Lawrence of Lancashire AD 1190 down to John Lawrence of Watertown AD 1636, Mercy Hale, Boston, 1856, p3:
“His only son, Robert, succeeded to the estates, and left a son John, whose will is dated in 1556, in which year he died, leaving sons Henry, John, William of St James Park, and Richard. John, the second son, died in May, 1590. In his will he speaks of his old age. His eldest son, John, settled at Wisset, where he made his will, and dying in 1607, was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry, alsoof Wisset, who had two sons, John and Robert. John, the eldest, was baptized October 8, 1609, and about the year 1630, came to New England, (probably with his father, ) and settled at Watertown, from whence he removed to Groton, where he died July 11, 1661, aged 58…
Sources:
Henry Lawrence – Bio
http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=11150992&st=1
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/16240437/person/429567140
Miner Descent 
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John Lawrence’s will was written about 1602 and he died in 1607, long before New England and Charlestown, were settled. Henry could not have been living in Charlestown at that time. Thus, there is no reason to say this Henry of Charlestown is a son of this John. It has also been proven that John Lawrence of Watertown/Groton was not a son of this Henry of Charlestown (see The Great Migration series at your local library). Sorry folks, you just lost all that nobility.
This still does not discount a connection of some sort, so to say that we lost all that nobility is not true. Lawrence, although not directly connected to John Lawrence of Watertown and Groton through Henry, does not make it a name that has no nobility associated with it. One generation in the mists of time connects our Lawrence with the same line, but we just don’t know which one it is.
To add, DNA results say that Henry Lawrence of Virginia and John Lawrence of Watertown are related somehow in those mists of time I mentioned. I love DNA because it helps answers at least one question- is there ANY relation? It of course in this case says yes. https://www.familytreedna.com/public/LawrenceandLorenz?iframe=ycolorized
Science and religion agree that we are all ”related somehow in those mists of time”, but who is to say that all of us Lawrences have a noble past? In particular, this hoax should be removed from the internet. It has been discredited. See Anderson’s Great Migration series, Volume IV, page 245. We Lawrences don’t want nobility by dishonesty.
One interesting finding of my genealogy project is how few to none of my ancestors commuted between Virginia and New England. Our American roots grew separately in the first couple centuries
I fully agree… after finally disproving outrageous noble claims for Larocque of one Robert Rocquebrune using DNA, many people have the same problems with other surnames, including our Lawrence ancestors. I am grateful that researchers like Robert’s and Richardson are hard at work destroying myths.