LAWSON, Alexander, engraver, born in Raven-struthers, Lanarkshire, Scotland, 19 December, 1772; died in Philadelphia, 22 August, 1846. He was left an orphan at fifteen years of age, and in 1792 came to this country, settling in Philadelphia, where he became an engraver. His first important works were four plates for Thomson's "Seasons," executed for Thomas Dobson, bookseller, which attracted much favorable notice. In 1798 Mr. Lawson formed a friendship with Alexander Wilson, for whose work on ornithology he engraved the best plates, and he contributed to the continuation of this work by Charles Lucien Bonaparte. He also engraved plates for a work on quadrupeds by George Ord. and a work on conchology by Professor Samuel S. Haldeman. His works are numerous, and include plates for annuals, maps, charts, and illustrations of works on chemistry, botany, and mineralogy.--His son, 0sear A., engraver, born in Philadelphia, 7 August, 1813; died there 6 September, 1854, entered the office of the United States coast-survey, at Washington, D. C., and remained there till 1851, when ill health compelled him to return to Philadelphia. His engravings, chiefly book plates, were executed with taste and ability.--His daughter, Mary Lockhart, poet, born in Philadelphia, published poems in the "Knickerbocker" and "Graham's Magazine" that were characterized by tender feeling and pleasing fancy. She occasionally wrote in'the Scottish dialect.