lamented, Thomas Lawrence, Esq. He had the Honour to be a Member of the Council of this Province, was President of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Philadelphia, had been five times elected Mayor of this City, and in the enjoyment of these Offices ended his life. Characters are extremely delicate, and few or none drawn with Exactness and at Length, are free of Blemish. Of this Gentleman we think it may be truly said, he was an affectionate Husband, a tender Parent, a kind indulgent Master, and a faithful Friend. The Funeral was respectfully attended on Tuesday Evening by a great number of the principal Inhabitants of the Place, who justly regret the Death of so able and diligent a Magistrate as a public loss.
But the same hand did not write the Epitaph on his Tomb Stone, namely
In Memory of
Thomas Lawrence, Esq
An eminent Merchant
A faithful Counsellor
An active Magistrate
Of Pennsylvania
Whose private virtues endeared him to his family and friends;
Whose public conduct gained him respect and esteem.
Expecting everlasting life he ended this
During his ninth Mayorality of this city
the 25th day of April MDCCLIIII.
Aged 64 years
Mr. Lawrence married at Raritan 25 May, 1719, his kinswoman Rachel, daughter of Cornelius Longfield of New Brunswick whose daughter Catherine married John Cox, and their son John Cox of Bloomsbury became father in law to Hon. Horace Binney and John Redman Coxe, M. D. Of the children of Thomas and Rachel Lawrence, the eldest Thomas was twice Mayor of the City, in 1758 and 1764; the second, John, was Mayor from 1765 to 1767, and in the latter year was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, and in 1750 married the daughter of Tench Francis, a Trustee of the Academy and College; and their daughter Mary married a few months after her father’s death William Masters, also a Trustee. It was she who, when the Widow Masters—her husband had died in 1760—, built the house on the south side of Market Street below Sixth, which her son-in-law, Richard Penn the Councillor, Sir William
