John Lawrence (Jan Lawrens), Mayor 1672-1673 and 1691: Lawrence (1618–1699) was a merchant in the dry goods trade. He had enslaved people at his farm in Hampstead, Long Island. His daughter, Susannah, married another mayor, Gabriel Minvielle.[1]

His participation in slavery:

• The book Root & Branch states that during the Dutch period, “some slaves labored on large plantations outside of the city, such as Captain John Lawrence’s plantation at Hempstead…”[2]
• On May 29, 1664, “John Laurence” is listed as purchasing “1 negro” for 345 florins at an auction. This enslaved person was on the ship Musch, owned by Matthias Beck of Curaçao.[3]

Lawrence also “owned a small trading-vessel called the Adventure, with which he carried on a profitable business with the towns along the Hudson River as far as Albany, and with those on both sides of Long Island Sound.”[4]

[1] Merchants & Empire, p.420-21, n.16

[2] Root & Branch, p.31, there is also a cousin John Lawrence who lived in Flushing

[3] Documents Illustrative of the Slave Trade, p.428; “To experiment with a parcel of negros,” p.64

[4] The Memorial History of the City of NY, Vol. II, 1892, p.51

Copyright 2025 Paul Hortenstine