George C. Lawrence, Jr.

George C. Lawrence, Jr., is the only son in the family of five children of George C. and Sarah Jane (Billington) Lawrence. The parents were natives of Dedham, Maine, and our subject was born at Holden, in the same State, March 21, 1857. He attended the public school at that place until seventeen years of age, when he began work in Dunham's machine shop, at Bangor, of which his father was foreman at that time, and here he remained about three years.

After this he ran stationary engines at several different sawmills until 1880, when he began steamboating as oiler on the North West, of the Detroit and Cleveland Line, remaining on her one season. The following year he went, as second engineer, on to the Idlewild, of the same line, which berth he filled for three seasons, when he was promoted to the position of chief on her, and remained thus for three more seasons. He was then transferred to the Greyhound, and was her chief four seasons, until he was again transferred, this time to the Iron Chief, in which he remained three seasons, thus rounding up a service of fourteen successive seasons with one line. In 1894 he engaged with the Davidson line, in that season bringing out new the Madagascar, and, the following season, the Rappahannock, remaining on each a season. In 1896 he brought out new the Appomattox, whose engines he ran during that and the succeeding season of 1897. He has sixteen issues of license.

In 1888, Mr. Lawrence was married to Miss Eliza Jane Hanson, of sarnia, Ontario, and they reside at No. 247 Fifteenth street, Detroit, Mich. Socially he is a member of Marine Engineers Beneficial Association NO. 3, of Detroit, and of Detroit Lodge No. 2, F. & A. M.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.