LAWLOR, JOHN (1824-1897)

LAWLOR, JOHN, teacher and registrar of deeds, 1857-97; b. Miramichi, 27 Jul 1824, s/o Patrick Lawlor and Margaret Finn; m. 1844, Sarah Landy; d. Newcastle, 17 Oct 1897.

John Lawlor was licensed as a teacher in 1847 and taught for ten years at Douglastown. In 1857 he succeeded Allan A. Davidson Sr as county registrar of deeds. This position did not pay a full-time salary in the 1850s and 60s, and he was experiencing serious financial difficulties in 1867. He held an auctioneer's license at that time as a means of augmenting his income. He also had an appointment as a justice of the peace, and in the early 1870s, in addition to discharging his duties as registrar, he was sometimes called upon to preside over the Newcastle police court. He continued as registrar of deeds for forty years, until a few months before his death.

Lawlor and his wife, Sarah Landy, had five sons and three daughters. The six children who survived him included J. Rogers Lawlor, who was his successor as registrar, Richard A. Lawlor, and Sarah E. Lawlor (Rev. Sister St Alban), who was the assistant mother general for many years of the Congregation of Notre Dame in Montreal.