Category: Narratives

Written by: Leo Lawton We are seeking information about the background of Mrs. Hattie H. Lawton, one of Allen Pinkerton’s crack detectives and spies during the Civil War period. This is what we know about her so far. The CEO of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Rail Road retained the famous Chicago detective, Allan Pinkerton, to bring a crew to […]

Written by: Leo Lawton Among the members of any family there are always those who seem to be unlucky, or lucky, enough to have events happen to them that others seem to pass by. Usually these selected family member’s stories are just a bit more vivid than those others who live an entire lifetime without making or leaving a ripple […]

By: Leo Lawton A stroke, by definition, is the sudden death of brain cells in a localized area due to inadequate blood flow. My father, born in 1905, was in his upper sixties when, after having heart problems for years, had the misfortune of suffering a stroke. It has been said by those much wiser than me, that there is […]

Written By: Leo Lawton John Elmer Lawton was born July 9, 1907 in the Shinglehouse area of northern Pennsylvania across the state boundary from Cattaraugus County, New York. I do not know how John was related to the Rhode Island Lawtons as that line is not known prior to 1801. John lived to the ripe old age of 104 and […]

THE FREMONT COUNTY HERALDDecember 28, l899 Truth Stranger Than FictionMrs. Nancy J. Stevens, from Jefferson, Green county, Iowa, is now in Sidney on a visit to her family friends here, consisting of Mrs. John Moomaw and Mrs. J. D. Curran, sisters, and James and H.D. Fletcher, brothers. Mrs. Stevens has passed through an experience that falls to the lot of […]

Written by: Leo Lawton When I returned from Argentia, Newfoundland to the United States, in July 1958 Patrol Squadron Eight (VP-8) had been permanently reassigned from Quonset Point, Rhode Island to Chincoteague, Virginia in relationship to a new task assignment for the squadron. During these “Cold War” times a new concept was being developed for coastal protection. VP-8 was assigned […]

by: Leo Lawton Once upon a long time ago, there was this feller by the name of Richard Lawton, who had been born around 1499. He met up with a little sweetheart of a gal named what’s-her-face Purrier, and they up and got married. I don’t know what her first name was, but I swear to you Richard knew it. […]

Leo Lawton received a letter from Carol Van Cleef asking for any possible information on Peter S. Lawton of New Orleans in the late 1800s. Carol enclosed a photocopy of an old letter written by Peter. The original copy of the letter was very fragile, difficult to read, and one corner of page two was nearly non-existent. Below is a […]

Grandma’s Story I was born in Orange County Indiana, September 16, 1871. Brother Harvey Hobson was 18 months older than me. His birthday was February 22, George Washington’s birthday. Harvey and I walked to school one and one half miles; usually four months of school in the winter. We ate breakfast always by candle or kerosene lamp. I helped with […]

The Lawtons of Summer OaksStacey A. Church Gerald M. Church Alexander Benjamin Lawton was born September 23, 1809, in South Carolina. He was the fifth child of Benjamin Themistocles Dion Lawton and Jane Mosse, one of three Mosse sisters who married three Lawton brothers. When A. B. was one year old his father joined a family migration to Mississippi. When […]