This is a great CDV photo of Rev. Vincent Douce Lawrence. He was born in Claridon, Marion County, Ohio on July 13, 1850 and was a son of George and Elizabeth (Douce) Lawrence. His mother died when he was only a year old and his father soon remarried. Vincent studied at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, graduating in 1876. This photo was taken at the time of his graduation and given to a classmate named Martin Bemis. It is signed and inscribed: "A friend in very truth, V. D. Lawrence, Marion, Ohio."
After college Vincent went on to Boston University, graduating there in 1877 and then became a minister in the North Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married abourt 1877 to a woman named Sarah (1851-1942). They had an only daughter named Maye about 1878. By the time of the 1880 census, Vincent was serving as pastor of a Methodist Church in College, Knox County, Ohio. But on January 14, 1881 he died in Marion, Ohio at the age of 30. His wife later married to a Mr. Owen and remained in Marion, Ohio, living to be 91.
The photo was taken at Beach & Bodurtha Studio in Delaware, Ohio and the image is very clear.
