Samuel Lawrason

Samuel McCutcheon Lawrason (July 31, 1852 – November 8, 1924) was an attorney who served two nonconsecutive terms in the Louisiana State Senate from West Feliciana Parish, located north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is principally known for the Lawrason Act of 1898, by which municipalities in Louisiana may incorporate into towns or cities without specific clearance from the state legislature.^[1][2]

Background

Lawrason was born in New Orleans to George Carson Lawrason and the former Zelia McCutcheon. He was educated in France and Spain before he received a degree in 1872 in civil engineering from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Two years later he received a LL.D. degree from Tulane University Law School, then part of the institution known as the University of Louisiana at New Orleans, where he subsequently began his law practice.^[1] Lawrason also held interests in cotton and sugar planting at different locations along the Mississippi River.^[3]

In 1875, Lawrason married the former Harriet "Hattie" Mathews, daughter of Charles Lewis Mathews and the former Penelope Stewart. He then relocated his law practice and residence to West Feliciana Parish. The couple had nine children: Zelia Lawrason, Annie Mathews Lawrason Butler, George C. Lawrason, Charles Lawrason, Helen Stewart Lawrason Kilpatrick, Margaret Butler Lawrason, Thomas Butler Lawrason, and Levering Lawrason.^[3] In 1891, the Lawrasons' next-to-the-youngest child, Samuel, Jr., died at three months of age on May 8 of that year.^[4]

Lawrason was affiliated with the Grace Episcopal Church in St. Francisville, the seat of West Feliciana Parish. He was also a member of the Masonic lodge.^[1]

Public service

In 1876, Lawrason was elected as parish judge and served until 1879, when the position was abolished. He was active in the Ballot Reform League and served on the West Feliciana Parish School Board from 1884 to 1905. From 1887 to 1923, he was a member of the board of supervisors of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, through which forum he became an early advocate of co-education.^[1]

Lawrason's state senate terms were twenty years apart - 1896-1900 and 1920-1924.^[5] He was the vice-president of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1898, the same year that he authored the Lawrason Act. In 1908, he ran unsuccessfully for the office of lieutenant governor, losing to his fellow Democrat, Paul M. Lambremont. From 1908 to 1912, Lawrason was a member of the State Board of Education, with parallel service still on the LSU board of supervisors.^[1]

Lawrason's place of death is unknown. He is interred at the Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery in St. Francisville.^[6]

References