Barnabas Edmands was one of the original members of the First Universalist Society and of the committee to build their meeting-house, and during the continuance of his long life he was a constant attendant on the services there, and a deacon of the church. He died January 13, 1872, aged ninety-three years, ten months. He was not only an enterprising man, but he merited and held the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens by the excellence of his character.

Mr. Edmands' second wife was the sister of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Whittemore, who was a Charlestown boy, at one time an apprentice to Mr. Edmands in the brassfoundry business. In his autobiography Mr. Whittemore refers to this, and has much to say about his boyhood in Charlestown. He rose to prominence as a clergyman and as president of the Vermont & Massachusetts and the Fitchburg railroads, but he did not forget his early struggles or the freaks and follies of his youth.

Many well-known and esteemed citizens were connected with the Edmands family by marriage. The wives of the late Nathan Merrill, schoolmaster and postmaster, Colonel Solomon Parsons, and the recently much-mourned William Murray were daughters of John D. Edmands. Abram E. Cutter and the late William H. Finney married daughters of Barnabas.

The Edmands family is represented in Charlestown to-day by George D. Edmands, of Monument Square, and by Thomas R. B. Edmands, who, with his daughters, occupies the homestead on Monument Avenue, except for the summer months which they spend at their beautiful residence at Sorrento, Maine.

MAY 21, 1898.

LXVII

High Street

Edward Lawrence and T. T. Sawyer.

Numbers 44 and 46

T

HE Charlestown Club, one of the popular organ

izations of to-day, purchased, and the members

are now using, for their club-house the former residence and grounds of the late Honorable Edward Lawrence, on High Street; and thanks to them the beautiful garden is still kept up and generously offers its attractions to passers-by, as it always did in the life-time of its former owner. There must be, among the members of the club, some of those who are touched with the same spirit as he was; who are filled with the same desire to please and benefit their fellow-men; who plan for their own enjoyment by finding out what will make others happy.

The Lawrence house and the adjoining one occupy a part of what was once known as the Samuel Dexter estate, a description of which is given in the first chapter of this volume. That chapter was written just after the purchase and dedication of the mansion-house by Abraham Lincoln Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and we were glad that in its new use its exterior could be preserved for a while longer to aid in keeping alive pleasant memories of its former occupancy. So now we rejoice that the Charlestown Club is satisfied

with the exterior of the residence of Mr. Lawrence as he left it, and that year after year they cheer the neighborhood with a well-kept lawn, with the refreshing play of the fountain, and with a fine display of beautiful flowers, skillfully arranged and faithfully cared for.

In 1850 what remained of the Dexter estate, at that time the property of the heirs of Hamilton Davidson, the land on Main Street on which the Dexter Row block had been built, and that on Green Street on which stands the Winthrop Church, having been previously sold, was laid out into lots and advertised to be sold at auction. The mansion-house, with a liberal allowance of land, was one lot; and there were eleven other lots, four fronting on High Street and seven on the court that runs in by the side of the Winthrop Church from Green Street. Before the day set for the auction arrived, the mansion-house and lot was purchased at private sale by Rhodes G. Lockwood; and nine of the other lots, the four on High Street and five on the court, by Edward Lawrence and T. T. Sawyer. The two remaining lots, on the lower side of the court, were bid in at auction by James Adams, and were transferred by him to Jacob Forster, as they adjoined the rear of the latter's estate fronting on Main Street. In this way the Samuel Dexter mansion with its extensive grounds, afterwards the elegant residence of Giles Alexander, Nathan Bridge, and Hamilton Davidson in succession, was lost to sight and is to memory dear only to those of us who knew it in its days of grandeur, when in its completeness it vied with the most beautiful of private residences and was growing more and more beautiful as a home for its owners and a paradise for the birds.

In the fall of 1850 the foundations of the Lawrence and Sawyer houses were laid, and in the summer of 1851 the owners moved into their new homes. The choice of the lots was arranged pleasantly and satisfactorily, the sunny side the more readily yielded to Mr. Lawrence inasmuch as the writer had taken a fancy to the large tulip-tree still growing, which would stand in a conspicuous place in his garden if he took the other side. John B. and Charles Wilson and Elisha Faunce were the contractors, and the work went on successfully and harmoniously to the finish. Mr. Lawrence and the writer, with their families, lived there as neighbors and friends from the summer of 1851 to the time of Mr. Lawrence's death, Saturday, October 17, 1885.

Edward Lawrence was born June 21, 1810, in the pleasant town of Harvard. His childhood and boyhood were spent there, and his memory of it was ever precious and sacred. When he was fifteen years old he came to Charlestown, and for sixty years honored it by his sound character and useful life, the impression of which was so surely fixed upon the minds of all who knew him that to add a word of eulogy seems superfluous and unnecessary. A tender expression of friendship and regard comes unbidden to the heart, but the head feels no need for emphasizing the good name which he made for himself and left untarnished and secure.

His arrival in Charlestown was anticipated by an offer of employment in the furniture-manufactory of Mr. Charles Forster, and in this establishment his youthful days were passed and his manhood career commenced, for he became the business partner of Mr. Forster, under the style of Forster & Lawrence, and was for

more than thirty years the successful manager of a very large furniture-business, from which he retired in 1863. On October 3, 1842, he was made a director in the Bunker Hill Bank, and he became its president, October 2, 1855, which office he held continuously until his death. He was elected one of the board of trustees of the Warren Institution for Savings in 1843 and a vicepresident in 1850; and he was for thirty-three years (from 1853 to 1886) one of its board of investment. He was also a director in railroad and manufacturing corporations, and, after the death of his brother-inlaw, Richard Baker, Jr., he was one of the trustees of his large estate.

Besides all this, he was interested and active in public affairs. Elected very early in life a member of the Board of Selectmen, he was re-elected for many years, several of which he served as chairman. After the city charter was accepted in 1847 he was urged many times to accept its higher positions, but he declined until his friend, Richard Frothingham, was elected mayor, when he consented to be an alderman, serving three years; and again under the three years' administration of the writer he lent his valuable aid as an alderman for the whole time. When the Mystic Water Works were projected in 1862 he was chosen chairman of the first board of water commissioners, and he held that position until 1873, when he resigned. The record of the construction and cost of the Mystic Water Works affords mathematical evidence of the honesty, sagacity, and energy of the first water board.

Mr. Lawrence represented the city in both branches of the State Legislature, and rendered valuable service