Genuine Kansas - Amos Adams Lawrence Philanthropist

Amos Adams Lawrence (Jul. 31, 1814 – Aug. 22, 1886) was the son of famed philanthropist Amos Lawrence. He was educated at Groton Academy (now Lawrence Academy at Groton) and at Harvard College.

Born in Groton, Massachusetts, Amos Adams Lawrence was a key figure in the United States abolition movement in the years leading up to the Civil War. He contributed large amounts of capital to John Brown's abolitionism, and played a major role in the crucial border state of Kansas. There he financed the founding of the University of Kansas. He also founded a college in Appleton, Wisconsin, which developed into Lawrence University. Lawrence also contributed large sums of money to Harvard and the Episcopal Theological School (now Episcopal Divinity School), in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Lawrence Academy, and the Groton School. Lawrence's farm outside of Boston became the campus for Boston College. Amos Adams Lawrence is credited with founding an Episcopalian dynasty in Boston, Massachusetts, which prompted many Boston Brahmins to convert from Unitarianism. Amos Adams Lawrence's son, William Lawrence, took an even more avid interest in the Episcopalian church, and became the long-time bishop of Massachusetts.