LAWRENCE, Joseph Wilson, Canadian author, born in St. John, New Brunswick, 28 February, 1818. He became a manufacturer of furniture in St. John in 1835, and for more than twenty-five years continuously was a director of the Mechanics' institute, of which he has been president, he strongly opposed confederation, and, when the electorate of New Brunswick in 1865 pronounced against the proposed union of that province to the Dominion, and a new administration came into power, 5It. Lawrence was appointed president of the European and North American railway commission, which place he held till the defeat of the government on the question of confederation in 1866. During the Mackenzie administration he was one of a commission to report on the practicatility of the construction of the Bale Verte canal. He has attained note as an antiquarian, and has published a pamphlet relative to the route of the Intercolonial railway, and "Foot-Prints, or Incidents in Early History of New Brunswick" (St. John. 1883); and has in Preparation "The Judges of New Brunswick in the first Fifty Years."