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 in 1674, at the age of sixty-nine. He was buried in the Little Neck Cemetery at Bullock's Cove, Riverside area of East Providence, Rhode Island. In his religious views, Willett was an independent. Willett was connected by marriage to the family of John Brown(e), shipbuilder, perennial political office holder, founder of several towns, and one of the wealthiest men in the Plymouth Colony. Although Brown(e)'s origins are uncertain and subject to present debate, he evidently was very well connected in England, as near the end of his life he returned there for several years as executor of the estate of