Dear fellow Lawrence researcers: In the material regarding this family so graciously provided by Janice Farnsworth, she cites Caleb Butler's History of Groton as the source of the information about the original John Lawrence, the immigrant ancestor who came to Watertown. As far as I am able to determine, Butler, in this work, while providing birthdates for the children of John and Elizabeth (___?___) Lawrence, fails to read the early Watertown records correctly. These records, printed in their original form at the end of Bond's Watertown History, use the numerical designation for the month of the births there recorded. Butler seems to have fallen into the trap so many of us have visited, that of assuming that January is the first month in this system. In these years, that was not the case. The habit of double dating during the days of the year from January 1 to March 25 stems from the practice at that time of determining that the new year began on the March 25 date, and thus when interpreting the birthdates from this source, March must be considered the first month. This essentially did not change until 1752, although practice varied sometimes in different places. It is this system that coincides with the Latinized designations for the latter months of the year. For example: Septem = seven, Octo = eight, Novem = nine, Decem = ten. This would then make January the eleventh month and February the twelfth. Therefore, the dates for the birth of the children of John and Elizabeth Lawrence should read as follows: John Jr., 14 March 1635 Nathaniel, 15 October 1639 Joseph, b. March 1642, d. 30 May 1642 [Wat.Vit.Rec., p. 10] Jonathan, bur. 6 Apr 1643 [Wat.Vit.Rec., p. 11] Joseph, b. 30 May 1643 [Wat. Vit.Rec., p. 11] (I have no explanation for the varience with Joseph, that's what is printed -- I could guess that the entry on p. 10 should have been Jonathan, but that IS only a guess) Mary, b. 16 July 1645 Peleg, b. 10 January 1647/1648 Enoch, b. 5 Mar 1648/1649 Zechariah, b. 9 Mar 1658/1659 These are all the children of John and Elizabeth Lawrence/Laurance etc. that are to be found in the Watertown records. The two children of John and Susanna Batcheler Lawrence listed in Farnsworth's transcription are found on page 135 of the Groton Vital Records, under the spelling Laurance. I hope that this helps clear up any confusion. Sincerely, Allan E. Green Whitney Research Group