Thomas Lawrence (mayor) Thomas Lawrence (mayor) Thomas Lawrence (1689–1754) was a merchant who was elected to six one-year terms as mayor of Philadelphia between 1729 and his death in 1754. Born in New York City, he moved to Philadelphia in 1720, where, for the rest of his life, Lawrence was engaged in the mercantile business. In 1730, after being associated with James Logan, Lawrence formed a partnership with Edward Shippen; Shippen & Lawrence became one of Philadelphia's leading firms. Apart from his life in private business, Lawrence held several positions of trust in the city, including serving as mayor for six one-year terms,
Thomas Willett Sir Henry Vane the Elder; the Sir Henry Vanes, elder and younger, played major roles in England at the time of the English Civil War. The Brown(e) family also had ties to earliest Plymouth through the marriage of John Brown(e)'s son, James, to Lydia Howland, daughter of John Howland, one of the Mayflower passengers; Howland collaborated in Willett's early fur-trading efforts. Willett's son, Thomas Willett, was a major in the militia of Queens County and a councillor under Governors Sir Edmund Andros and Henry Sloughter. Mary Willett, eldest daughter of Capt. Thomas Willett and his wife Mary, married in 1658