Lawton was born in
Lowell, Massachusetts on October 17, 1845. He served in the
6th Massachusetts Militia Regiment during the
American Civil War. He graduated from
Williams College in 1868 and was a schoolmaster in Lowell for five years. He was admitted to the bar in 1877 and was city solicitor of Lowell from 1880 to 1882 and 1885 to 1886. In 1886, he was appointed superintendent of
Lowell Public Schools. He succeeded
George H. Conley, who took a position in the
Boston Public Schools. Lawton declined reappointment in 1891 to return to the practice of law. On September 13, 1894, he was appointed to the Middlesex probate court by Governor
Frederic T. Greenhalge. He presided over the
Russell will case, which lasted 118 days, saw 205 witnesses called and 346 exhibits presented, and produced a stenographic record of 11,400 pages. Lawton ruled that the claimant to the Russell estate was not the missing son of
Daniel Russell, but instead an imposter named James D. Ruseau. Following the decision, a crowd of around 1,000 supporters of the claimant gathered in
Melrose, Massachusetts and burned an effigy of Lawton outside of the Russell home. On July 17, 1925, Lawton drowned in Herring Pond near his country estate in
Eastham, Massachusetts. He is interred in the Lawton family mausoleum in
Lowell Cemetery alongside his wife, daughter, and sister-in-law. ==References==