Following his graduation from Harvard, Lawrence entered business for himself as a commission merchant and eventually became owner of
Ipswich Mills, the largest producer of knit goods in the country. In 1858 and 1860, he was a candidate for governor of
Massachusetts.
Philanthropy Lawrence financed the founding of the University of Kansas in
Lawrence, Kansas, which was named after him. In 1847, he founded a college that is today Lawrence University on of land that he had purchased in 1844 in the
Fox River Valley. Some of the land he purchased became
Appleton, Wisconsin, named for his father-in-law. His farm outside of Boston became the campus for
Boston College. From 1857 to 1862 he was treasurer of
Harvard College, and from 1879 to 1885 an overseer. Lawrence contributed large amounts of capital to the
Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company and funds for the colonization of free negroes in
Liberia. ==Personal life==