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Local figure

George H. Lawrence

George H. Lawrence came to Chapel Hill in 1922, took a master's degree at the University in 1928, and for several years was Orange County's superintendent of public welfare. In 1937 he joined the University's social work faculty, which he left in 1946 to head Buncombe County's welfare department.

Source: DigitalNC: The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 27, 1946, p. 1 (Lawrence Leaving for New Job in Asheville)

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Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineOrange County's welfare superintendents, 1919–19611919–1961 · 7 events · Orange County's welfare department began under the school superintendent and worked for years with little staff. After a 1919 law required every county to have a welfare board, the commissioners and school board made school superintendent R. H. Claytor the first welfare superintendent. George H. Lawrence became the first full-time superintendent in 1928 and for years worked with only a part-time clerk. In 1954 Annie Strowd resigned weeks after the commissioners refused her department's requests for pay raises and a casework supervisor. Her successor, Jane Parker, left in 1956 for a Durham agency and returned in 1957 after the commissioners raised the salary. She retired in 1961, and Mrs. Creighton Bunn was superintendent by March. StorylineThe Chapel Hill Community Chorus, 1921–19311921–1931 · 3 events · Chapel Hill twice organized a community chorus that drew on the University and the town alike. On November 29, 1921 members of the Community Club's music department formed the Chapel Hill Community Chorus under Paul J. Weaver, open to faculty, students and townspeople and planning at least two free public concerts a year. In October 1929 George H. Lawrence organized a new community chorus of 120 voices, which sang Handel's Messiah under Harold S. Dyer in the Methodist church on December 16 before more than 1,200 people. By October 30, 1931 its executive committee had judged any project impractical for the near future, and the chorus suspended its activities for the year. StorylineChapel Hill’s nurse for Black residents, 1924–19411924–1941 · 29 events · Nurse A. D. Compton carried most of the health work among Chapel Hill's Black residents from 1924, with her salary paid from tuberculosis-seal money, the town, the Red Cross and Black residents. She visited homes, examined schoolchildren, gave typhoid inoculations and held baby clinics. Her support was often in doubt: by December 1927 the Red Cross could no longer give its share, Black citizens organized a canvass for theirs in 1929, and in 1930 the tuberculosis fund could pledge support only until June. From 1927 a yearly football game, run by the University YMCA, raised money for her. In 1939 she wrote in the Weekly of the change from wells and privies to sewer, town water and clinics. StorylineRelief in Orange County as the Depression deepens, 1929–19331929–1933 · 47 events · When the Depression began, Orange County had no health department, no public health nurse and no hospital of its own, and welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence's list of families in dire need grew from 30 to about 60 by December 1929. The commissioners matched private gifts for an emergency health fund, and the Kiwanis Club, the King's Daughters and the Daily Tar Heel took up relief. In 1930 the county said its funds could not meet emergency relief, and Chapel Hill set up an unemployment committee under Howard W. Odum. In September 1932 the commissioners, short of money, cut off county relief to every family with an able-bodied man, and federal relief allotments began that October. StorylineThe New Deal in Orange County, 1933–19361933–1936 · 25 events · Families asking relief in Orange County peaked at 900 in March 1933; from that summer federal programs reached the county, which had to share their cost. George H. Lawrence ran Civil Works projects that by December 1 employed more than 200 men, and 851 Orange farmers were under federal AAA contracts. Cuts in relief money halted work projects in 1934 and 1935, and Orange was merged into a five-county relief district run from Durham. The Works Progress Administration then gave jobs to all but 24 of the families on the old relief list. By December 1936 Lawrence said any able-bodied man who tried could get work, and the need that remained was among widows, orphans, the old and the sick. StorylineThe Civil Works Administration in Orange County, 1933–19341933–1934 · 12 events · In November 1933 the county relief director, George H. Lawrence, took charge of the new Civil Works Administration in Orange County, and by December 1 more than 200 men were at work on University and other projects. Crews rebuilt Hillsborough's courthouse square with stone from the old jail, began the Confederate Memorial Library, worked on Chapel Hill's streets and sidewalks, straightened Bolin's Creek and painted county schools. In February 1934 orders from Raleigh cut the county's force from 766 to 375 in nine days, dropping county road and school projects. On March 31 the Civil Works Administration went out of existence, leaving Lawrence only a few relief men to keep Chapel Hill's streets and the University's rebuilt tennis courts going.
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StorylineSocial Security comes to Orange County, 1937–19381937–1938 · 12 events · The new state social security law brought Orange County its first old-age assistance checks in 1937, and a higher county tax rate to pay for them. The law required a full-time welfare superintendent in every county, and W. T. Mattox succeeded George H. Lawrence, who would not leave the University faculty. The new Board of Public Welfare, with C. A. McDade as a Black member, announced that old-age assistance would go only to those in need. The county budget added a welfare fund that included federal and state money, and in August the county delivered its first checks, to 29 people, and raised its tax rate 7 cents for the new payments, the Weekly reported.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 77 dated events in the chronology →

  1. George H. Lawrence becomes the county's first full-time welfare superintendent The commissioners and school board, in joint session, elected Lawrence full time. For years he worked with only a part-time clerk, from an old university-owned house in Chapel Hill. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 210 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, September 21, 1928, p. 1
  2. Orange County welfare board takes up the county home's condition At its September meeting in Hillsboro the county board of public welfare discussed the dilapidated county home and recommended a study of whether a hospital would serve better than an ordinary home, possibly built jointly with neighboring counties. The board also reviewed plans submitted by the new county welfare superintendent and set its meetings for the second Thursday of each month. People: George H. Lawrence, Annie Sutton Cameron Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 28, 1928, p. 6
  3. George Lawrence describes the county home near Efland in the Chapel Hill Weekly George Lawrence described the county home two and a half miles north of Efland: two narrow brick buildings, probably of 1824, heated by fireplaces and lit by kerosene, with no plumbing. It held 19 residents and two prisoners, and white and Black residents ate in separate rooms. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County home, north of Efland · Also named: George LawrenceSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 26, 1928, p. 5
  4. Orange County delegation studies the Vance County hospital as a model County Commissioner J. C. Lloyd and a group from Chapel Hill and Hillsboro visited the 22-bed Vance County hospital at Henderson, which the Duke Foundation helped support. An account in the Weekly argued that a similar hospital would cost Orange little more than building and running a new county home. People: George H. Lawrence, Houston J. Walker, Peter L. Burch Place: Vance County hospital, Henderson (Orange County delegation) · Also named: J. C. LloydSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 5, 1929, p. 5
  5. Chapel Hill's American Legion post elects Paul Robertson commander The Chapel Hill post of the American Legion chose Paul Robertson as its commander for the coming year, with Owen Robertson and G. M. Kirkland as vice-commanders, W. S. Hogan as adjutant and George H. Lawrence as service officer. Under Robertson the post's membership drive raised its roll to about 110 by January 1930. People: Paul H. Robertson, William S. Hogan, George H. Lawrence Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Owen Robertson, G. M. Kirkland, Paul RobertsonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 30, 1929, p. 1 (The Post's Officers)
  6. Chapel Hill's American Legion post wins three state trophies At the state American Legion convention in Raleigh in late August 1929, the Chapel Hill post won three trophies for its work in its membership class, and the post's chaplain, Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence, was elected state chaplain. The post was credited with school prizes, sponsoring the Boy Scouts and a junior baseball team, helping get the landing field started, and service officer George Lawrence's aid to veterans' widows and orphans. People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence, George H. Lawrence, Paul H. Robertson Place: Raleigh (Chapel Hill post) · Also named: George LawrenceSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 30, 1929, p. 1
  7. County welfare superintendent notes Orange has no health officer or public health nurse In a letter to the Chapel Hill Weekly, county welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence wrote that Orange County had no county health officer, no county health department and no public health nurse, and that little preventive health work was being done. He contrasted Orange with Vance County, which had a health officer, a hospital and a tuberculosis sanatorium. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, September 27, 1929, p. 3 (letter from George H. Lawrence, Supt. of Public Welfare)
  8. Orange County commissioners offer to match gifts for an emergency health fund for the poor After welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence told them of sick people too poor to pay doctors or hospitals, the commissioners agreed to match private gifts dollar for dollar up to $500, once the county accountant found room in the budget. Orange had no hospital of its own, and hospitals in neighboring counties were reluctant to take its charity cases. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 18, 1929, p. 1
  9. A county committee studies replacing Orange County's run-down county home The commissioners named R. A. Eubanks of Chapel Hill, C. H. Robertson of Hillsborough and John P. Hughes of Cedar Grove to study a new county home, and they visited Vance County's $30,000 county hospital, which the Duke Endowment aided at $1 a day for each charity patient. The Weekly reported that the county would probably wait to learn whether the new Duke University hospital would take Orange charity patients before deciding. People: Robert A. Eubanks, Charles H. Robertson, George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County · Also named: John P. HughesSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 1, 1929, p. 1
  10. Chapel Hill's new community chorus sings Handel's Messiah The community chorus that George H. Lawrence organized in October, 120 voices from the church choirs, the faculty and the students, sang the Messiah under Harold S. Dyer in the Methodist church before more than 1,200 people, with an orchestra led by T. Smith McCorkle and soloists from Greensboro, Raleigh and Durham who took no fee. Memorial Hall's closing sent the performance to the church, and admission was free with an offering. People: George H. Lawrence, Harold S. Dyer Place: Methodist church, Chapel Hill · Also named: T. Smith McCorkleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 20, 1929, p. 5
  11. Kiwanis teams carry food and clothing to the county's poor as the welfare list doubles Welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence's list of Orange County families in dire need had grown from 30 a year earlier to about 60, which he laid to crop failures and illness. After hearing him on December 17 the Chapel Hill Kiwanis Club formed teams to take food and clothing into the country, and the King's Daughters agreed to carry their relief work beyond their usual territory into the county. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 20, 1929, p. 2
  12. County welfare officer George H. Lawrence appeals for food for destitute families Orange County's welfare superintendent said several families he knew were living on a starvation ration and that public relief funds were nowhere near enough, and he asked every organization to take charge of the poor in its own locality, with the King's Daughters and the Red Cross already helping. Gifts sent to him and to Mrs. R. B. Lawson reached $114 within a week and $334.32 by February 20. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County · Also named: Mrs. R. B. LawsonThe Chapel Hill Weekly, January 31, 1930, p. 1
Show all 77 dated events
  1. County welfare officer reports emergency relief to 43 families George H. Lawrence, Orange County's welfare officer, reported that a special emergency fund of $649.11, raised since late January apart from the county's regular poor fund, had given food, clothing and medical help to 43 families: 24 rural, 13 in the mill sections and 6 in the village. University students had given $202.73, Chapel Hill residents $227.51 and a Rotary benefit picture show $85.95, and about half the families were self-supporting again. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, May 16, 1930, p. 1
  2. County commissioners and welfare board appeal for help for the jobless In a joint statement from Hillsboro, the Orange County commissioners and the county board of public welfare asked citizens to hire whom they could, farm owners to take on new tenants returning from town, and private charities to widen their work. Saying county funds could not meet emergency relief, they asked for gifts to welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence. People: George H. Lawrence, John Hodge Hanner Place: HillsboroThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 7, 1930, p. 1
  3. University students raise about $160 for the county's poor At the students' own suggestion, the Y.M.C.A. cabinet under Harry F. Comer canvassed the dormitories and fraternity houses after hearing welfare officer George H. Lawrence describe need in the county, and collected about $160 for Orange County relief. People: George H. Lawrence, Harry F. Comer Place: University dormitories, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 28, 1930, p. 1
  4. County welfare office puts 55 families around Hillsboro on rations George H. Lawrence, Orange County superintendent of public welfare, reported that in December 1930 fifty-five families around Hillsboro alone had to be fed on a ration basis, with the worst distress in the mill villages and in families without an able-bodied man. By March 1931 applications had fallen off, though the county was still feeding needy women, children and old people and Lawrence asked for gifts. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Hillsboro and the county's mill villagesThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 13, 1931, p. 3
  5. Hillsboro citizens form a committee to relieve the jobless mill section Welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence reported about 50 families in need from unemployment, with the worst distress in the mill section outside Hillsboro, where mill officials had been giving relief themselves. As the need grew, Hillsboro citizens formed a committee to meet it, and the commissioners agreed to add to the poor relief budget. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Mill section, HillsboroThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 12, 1930, p. 4
  6. Orange County veterans rush to borrow on their World War bonus certificates World War veterans across Orange County applied for loans on their bonus certificates under the new federal law so fast that the blank forms ran out and had to be reprinted. George H. Lawrence, service officer of the Chapel Hill American Legion post, handled most of the applications with help from the postmasters at Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsboro, and the first applicants had their money from the Veterans Bureau's Charlotte office by mid-March; most said they needed it for family needs, mortgages and overdue bills. People: George H. Lawrence, Paul H. Robertson Place: Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsboro post officesSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 13, 1931, p. 6
  7. Chapel Hill sends door-to-door beggars to the Town Hall for King's Daughters screening Town manager John Foushee asked householders to send beggars to the Town Hall, where the town had arranged for the King's Daughters to look into each case so that relief went to genuine distress, since strangers begging from door to door were often found to be giving false stories. Later in April the Community Club's health department collected cast-off clothing for the King's Daughters and county welfare officer George Lawrence to give to the poor. People: George H. Lawrence, John M. Foushee Place: Town Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: John Foushee, George LawrenceThe Chapel Hill Weekly, April 3, 1931, p. 1
  8. Chapel Hill organizes a central committee for relief of the unemployed, with Joseph Hyde Pratt as chairman Delegates of the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, the King's Daughters, the Daughters of the Confederacy, the county welfare department and the Red Cross met at the Bank of Chapel Hill and formed a central committee to coordinate the town's charities, replacing the mayor's emergency unemployment committee of the year before. Chairman Joseph Hyde Pratt said its main aim was to find work for the jobless, and George H. Lawrence was made secretary. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, George H. Lawrence, E. Carrington Smith, Zeb P. Council Place: Bank of Chapel Hill, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 2, 1931, p. 1
  9. County welfare officer George H. Lawrence reports $4,000 spent on relief in the past year In a letter to the Weekly, George H. Lawrence said about $4,000 had passed through his hands for relief in the past year, half of it county money, and that $2,000 was again available from the county. He wrote that the worst unemployment had been among the mill people of West Hillsboro, whose two mills were now doing better, and expected harder times in Chapel Hill as University pay cuts reached Black servants and yard hands. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, September 11, 1931, p. 7
  10. The Orange County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations names a committee to find work for the unemployed At its September meeting in Hillsboro, with Mrs. Grover Bivins presiding, the county PTA council heard Dr. Charles Mangum urge a public health nurse for the county and George H. Lawrence describe the outlook for relief. It appointed a committee to plan ways of giving the unemployed work rather than only food and clothing. People: Charles Staples Mangum, George H. Lawrence Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Mrs. Grover BivinsThe Chapel Hill Weekly, September 18, 1931, p. 3
  11. Teacher John Poteat turns a $10 gift into clothes for 33 pupils at the Black Harmony school Finding attendance down at Harmony school, a Black school in northern Orange, because children lacked clothes and books, welfare officer George H. Lawrence sent old books and $10 of county money for more, and gave teacher John Poteat $10 from citizens. Poteat bought cloth and thread, and mothers sewed clothes for 33 children. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Harmony school, northern Orange County · Also named: John PoteatThe Chapel Hill Weekly, February 19, 1932, p. 1
  12. Orange County Republicans meet in Hillsboro and endorse Hoover The county convention endorsed Herbert Hoover for re-election and Jake F. Newell, who spoke, for the United States Senate, backed the 'national plan of organization' for the party, and chose delegates to the state and district conventions. The Carrboro boys' band, trained by George Lawrence, played on the court house lawn and in the court room. People: H. D. Carter, George H. Lawrence Place: Court house, Hillsboro · Also named: Jake F. Newell, George LawrenceSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 1, 1932, p. 1
  13. Orange County's welfare superintendent asks the governor for a share of federal relief money By August 12, 1932 George H. Lawrence, county superintendent of public welfare, had sent Governor Gardner an estimate that Orange County needed about $3,080 a month for relief, against county funds of only $3,000 a year. He counted 205 families dependent on public food relief, most of them in Cheeks and Hillsborough townships, and estimated that about 800 families in the county were without regular work. People: George H. Lawrence, O. Max Gardner Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 12, 1932, p. 1
  14. Orange County commissioners cut off county relief to families with able-bodied men On September 5, 1932 the county commissioners, short of money, told the welfare officer to stop county relief to every family that had an able-bodied man, cutting the relief list to 70 families, and ended the work projects for the unemployed at Hillsborough and Efland. Those projects had supported the families of about 75 jobless men for three months; only $547 was left for relief for the rest of the fiscal year. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough; work projects at Hillsborough and EflandSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 9, 1932, p. 4
  15. The Chapel Hill Legion post lets country members pay dues in produce for relief Opening its membership drive on September 21, 1932, the Chapel Hill post of the American Legion cut dues from $3.50 to $2.50 and agreed that country members could pay in produce, to be turned over to George H. Lawrence for the Legion's relief work. The post had spent $400 to $500 on relief in Orange County the year before. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Bank of Chapel Hill (meeting), Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 23, 1932, p. 5
  16. Methodists lend their old church to the Central Welfare Committee for relief work The Methodist congregation lent its small old church, beside its new one, to the Central Welfare Committee as the headquarters for the winter's relief work, with an employment bureau and a depot for donated clothing. Chairman Joseph Hyde Pratt said the King's Daughters would give out clothing in the village and county welfare officer George Lawrence in the country. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, George H. Lawrence Place: Old Methodist church, beside the new Methodist church, Chapel Hill · Also named: George LawrenceThe Chapel Hill Weekly, September 30, 1932, p. 1
  17. Volunteer committees give out federal Red Cross cloth in Chapel Hill, Efland and Hillsboro The Chapel Hill Red Cross chapter and the Central Welfare Committee set up centers to hand out cloth from the federal government's cotton appropriation: the old Methodist church for Chapel Hill and Bingham townships, the old post office at Efland for Efland and part of Cheeks township, and rooms over the Hayes drugstore in Hillsboro for Hillsboro, Eno, Little River and part of Cedar Grove townships. Cloth went out only on orders signed by welfare workers, and a Methodist circle sewed some of it into clothing for emergencies. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Old Methodist church, Chapel Hill; old post office, Efland; Hayes drugstore, Hillsboro · Also named: Mrs. M. P. Efland, Sue Hayes · Also mentions: Chapel Hill and Bingham townshipsThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 14, 1932, p. 1
  18. Orange County receives its fourth federal relief allotment County welfare officer George H. Lawrence received a $1,655 check from state relief headquarters on November 30, bringing Orange County's federal relief allotments for October and November to $5,405. He said the county was aiding 517 families, giving no cash but orders on grocery and clothing stores that the merchants presented to the county for payment, with district committees of citizens investigating each case. People: George H. Lawrence Place: County welfare office, Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 2, 1932, p. 3
  19. A gravel-pit cave-in on the Durham road kills a Black relief worker A bank collapsed at the gravel pit on the Durham road east of Chapel Hill on December 8, killing Guy Snipes, a 17-year-old Black worker, and badly injuring George Davis, the town's street repair foreman. Snipes was paid in food and clothing from Orange County's federal relief allotment rather than on the town payroll, and neither the town attorney nor the county welfare officer could say who was legally responsible for his death. People: George H. Lawrence, Bonner D. Sawyer Place: Gravel pit, Durham road, east of Chapel Hill · Also named: Guy Snipes, George DavisThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 9, 1932, p. 1
  20. Orange County gets $12,000 more in federal relief for January and February Orange County received federal relief allotments of $6,000 each for January and February, bringing its total since October 1 to $20,555. Welfare officer George H. Lawrence reported aid to 379 families in October, 515 in November and 613 in December, relief worth $14,353 in those months, and said the county was already levying the highest tax the law allowed for poor relief and had spent four-fifths of its year's poor fund by September 7. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, January 20, 1933, p. 3
  21. County relief ends its work projects in Cedar Grove township Welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence reported that the county was aiding about 800 families that winter through public work projects paid from federal funds of $6,000 a month, and that more than 200 of the 400 farm families on relief lived in Cedar Grove township. He ended the Cedar Grove projects that week so tenants could work their own crops. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Cedar Grove townshipSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 17, 1933, p. 5
  22. County relief requires farm families on aid to grow their own food About 200 farmers met welfare officer George H. Lawrence and farm agent Don Matheson at McDade's store in Cedar Grove township to hear the new rule that every farm family seeking federal, state or county aid must sign up to raise corn, potatoes, peas, beans and other food for the coming winter. The government and landlords were to supply seed and some fertilizer, and C. P. Whitfield was hired as field supervisor. People: George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: McDade's store, Cedar Grove township · Also named: C. P. WhitfieldSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 10, 1933, p. 1
  23. Relief families of Chapel Hill and Carrboro are told to grow gardens About 200 men and women of both races from Chapel Hill and Carrboro met in the Old Methodist church to hear that the relief organization would now require every family asking for aid to raise its own food. Seventy-five town families had already signed up, with seed from the national and state governments, and Lawrence was arranging plowing for those who could not do it themselves. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: Old Methodist church, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 17, 1933, p. 1
  24. The county relief office makes its headquarters in the old Methodist church George H. Lawrence, superintendent of public welfare and director of federal relief in Orange, wrote that the relief organization had obtained the use of the old Methodist church in Chapel Hill for its headquarters, with donated office equipment and free telephone, light and water, and appealed for two stoves since relief funds could not buy them. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Old Methodist church, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 13, 1933, p. 2
  25. Civil Works crews start $137,000 of projects in Orange County State headquarters approved George H. Lawrence's Civil Works projects for Orange on November 23, with a county quota of 453 workers and a payroll of about $7,000 a week for four months. By December 1 more than 200 men were at work on about $102,000 of University projects and about $35,000 of others in the county, directed by J. A. Page from the frame building east of the University library. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County · Also named: J. A. Page · Also mentions: University librarySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 1, 1933, p. 1
  26. George H. Lawrence becomes Orange County's Civil Works administrator Already county welfare officer and relief director, Lawrence was put in charge of the new Civil Works Administration in Orange, with a quota of 453 jobs and a payroll he guessed at about $7,000 a week. He hired builder J. A. Page to run the construction work. Place: Orange County · Also named: J. A. PageSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 24, 1933, p. 1 (Lawrence Striving to Get Work Started Promptly)
  27. The Central Welfare Committee urges fair pay for Black household workers Through its secretary George H. Lawrence, the Central Welfare Committee said some Black servants in Chapel Hill were being paid very low wages for long hours and asked employers who had cut pay to cut hours in proportion; it added that workers whose wages fell short could still get supplementary relief. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 10, 1933, p. 1
  28. Civil Works crews tear down the old stone jail on Hillsborough's courthouse square As part of a Civil Works Administration project around the courthouse, relief workers demolished the old jail, and flagstones from its walls were used for sidewalks around the square. The work was nearly done in late December and complete by late January. People: George H. Lawrence, H. D. Carter Place: Courthouse square, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 22, 1933, p. 1 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, January 26, 1934, p. 5
  29. Federal orders cut Orange County's Civil Works force in half On February 22 county administrator George H. Lawrence had to lay off 180 Civil Works men on telegraphed orders from Raleigh, and 211 more the next week, shrinking the county's force from 766 to 375 in nine days. County road and school projects, ditching in Hillsboro and a planned municipal swimming pool at University Lake were dropped, while the Chapel Hill streets, University grounds and the Hillsboro courthouse and library went on. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County · Also mentions: Chapel Hill streetsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 23, 1934, p. 1
  30. A three-mile rural power line from Chapel Hill to Calvander is built with federal money Built in the winter of 1933-34 as a Civil Works Administration project, the line ran about three miles out the Hillsboro road from Chapel Hill to Calvander, connected at Carrboro to the University Consolidated Service Plants, which supplied part of the material. Henry Hogan, who farmed near Calvander with his brother, and his friends gave the cedar trees for its 107 poles, and the book says the Hogan brothers supplied the poles when funds ran short. In late February 1934 the Chapel Hill Weekly expected current to reach 22 families within about a month. The book says it was the first rural electric line in the United States built with federal funds. People: George H. Lawrence, Henry S. Hogan, Don S. Matheson Place: Calvander · Also named: Henry HoganSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 249 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, February 23, 1934, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 13, 1934, p. 4; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1934, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, February 12, 1937, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 3, 1939, p. 4
  31. Civil Works crews paint and improve the county's schools Civil Works money paid for painting the inside of the Chapel Hill school and grading and draining the grounds around its Little Tin Can, and for work on the grounds of about thirty schools across Orange County. When the federal cuts came in late February about three-quarters of the authorized painting was done and the rest of the school work stopped. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Chapel Hill school and schools across Orange County · Also mentions: Chapel Hill schoolSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 23, 1934, p. 1
  32. The Civil Works program ends in Orange County After cutting wages to 30 cents an hour for unskilled labor and scheduling its last men off by late April, the Civil Works Administration went out of existence on March 31, leaving the work divisions of the Emergency Relief Administration to employ only people on the relief rolls. Re-employment director Starlin Whitaker had 917 people re-registered for work in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and relief director George H. Lawrence was allowed only a few men to keep the Chapel Hill streets and University tennis courts going. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County · Also named: Starlin Whitaker · Also mentions: Chapel Hill streetsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 6, 1934, p. 1
  33. Relief director George H. Lawrence receives federal mules for needy farmers Under the federal farm rehabilitation plan a carload of 26 mules from Atlanta reached Mebane on April 16, consigned to Orange relief director George H. Lawrence for farmers in Orange, Alamance and Caswell counties. He housed them in a tobacco warehouse, and by April 20 eight had gone to Orange farmers, with a second carload expected. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Mebane (arrival) and farms in Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 20, 1934, p. 1
  34. Relief labor restores Chapel Hill's full street-surfacing program After the end of the Civil Works program had cut it to 30,000 square yards, state and county relief officials approved hard-surfacing the original 76,500 square yards of Chapel Hill streets with 84 relief workers in two shifts. North Columbia Street to the town line was to be surfaced first, then South Boundary Street and Park Place. People: George H. Lawrence, John L. Caldwell Place: North Columbia, Boundary and other streets, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill streets, Park Place, North Columbia StreetSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 20, 1934, p. 1
  35. A cut in federal relief money halts Orange County's work projects With more than half of May's relief allotment spent by mid-month, county relief administrator George H. Lawrence suspended every county work project except the Chapel Hill street surfacing and cut direct relief to $7 a family a month. The county carried about 600 families in April and 480 in May, divided among direct relief, farm rehabilitation and work relief. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 18, 1934, p. 1
  36. The park below the University Lake dam opens as a public recreation ground The state board of health had closed the picnic ground below the dam for want of sanitary facilities. With $250 from the Chapel Hill Movie Guild, private gifts and Emergency Relief labor, the town built two bath-houses and a septic tank and hired a caretaker-lifeguard, and the University turned the three-acre park over to the town for Chapel Hill and Carrboro. People: Brodie Thompson, George H. Lawrence, Peter L. Burch, Carl T. Durham Place: Park below the University Lake dam, near CarrboroThe Chapel Hill Weekly, June 22, 1934, p. 1
  37. Orange County commissioners order a study of power lines for farm homes After the success of the Civil Works power line to Calvander, the commissioners asked farm agent Don Matheson, county accountant G. W. Ray and relief administrator George H. Lawrence to study a network of rural power lines with D. S. Weaver of State College. The officials ruled out a Public Works loan, judging that so few customers could not carry the debt, and hoped for direct federal aid. People: George H. Lawrence, Gilbert W. Ray, W. P. Berry, John Hodge Hanner, Henry S. Hogan, Carl T. Durham, Don S. Matheson Place: County commissioners' meeting, Hillsborough · Also named: D. S. WeaverThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 6, 1934, p. 1
  38. Farmers at an Orange Grove Grange gathering form committees to bring electricity to their homes At the Orange County Grange assembly at Orange Grove, D. S. Weaver of the governor's rural electrification committee told farmers that Orange and Hoke were the only counties with a CWA power line and that Orange might be chosen as the state's demonstration county. The farmers pledged to cooperate and formed local committees to map routes and estimate use; by late July thirteen committees were at work. People: George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange Grove · Also named: D. S. WeaverThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 20, 1934, p. 1
  39. Relief work resumes with 125 men in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough With August's relief allotment, George H. Lawrence put 85 men back to work in Chapel Hill on the intramural athletic field, the asphalt tennis courts and campus roads, and 40 in Hillsborough, mostly on the library with a few at the courthouse. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Chapel Hill and HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 3, 1934, p. 1
  40. Federal money keeps relief director George H. Lawrence out of jail in the Guy Snipes fee dispute Guy Snipes, a Black man paid from relief funds, was killed in a gravel pit at the edge of Chapel Hill in December 1932, and the state relief office awarded his heirs $2,200 with Lawrence as their guardian. Judge Sinclair ordered Lawrence jailed for contempt unless a $200 fee claimed by Durham lawyers was paid, and the federal government sent the money in time. Place: Orange County · Also named: Guy SnipesSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 17, 1934, p. 1 (Govt. Aid Saves Lawrence from A Stay in Jail)
  41. Federal relief engineers weigh Orange as the state's test county for rural electrification Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt, consulting engineer for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration in the Southeast, met in Chapel Hill with state and county leaders on August 21, 1934, to advance a plan to make Orange the demonstration county for rural electrification as a relief project. Thirteen farmers' committees organized a few weeks before had canvassed thirteen proposed routes house to house, recording each home's size, whether owner or tenant lived there, and the likely uses of current. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, August 24, 1934, p. 1
  42. Federal drought cattle arrive at University Station under George H. Lawrence's care Sixty-nine cows shipped by the government from the drought-stricken Middle West were unloaded at University Station and pastured on part of the old Duke farm, with more bound for pastures near Hillsboro. As county relief administrator, Lawrence had to house and feed Orange County's quota of 669. Place: University Station · Also mentions: Duke farmSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 31, 1934, p. 1 (Govt. Cows Are Welcomed by Geo. Lawrence)
  43. Orange commissioners approve the county's rural electrification plan On November 5, 1934, the Orange County commissioners approved the rural electrification plan that George H. Lawrence, the county relief administrator, had prepared, and a visiting district engineer approved it the same week before it went to Washington. The farm agent's year-end report said 125 miles of proposed line had been surveyed and the project was pending there. People: George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: Court house, HillsboroughThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 9, 1934, p. 3
  44. The commissioners turn relief money over to welfare officer George Lawrence As Depression requests multiplied, the board stopped voting on each small grant and paid Lawrence $150 a month for January and February 1935 to put into the ERA fund for totally disabled people on the relief list. In March it gave him charge of all relief for March and April. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 211 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, January 18, 1935, p. 6
  45. Relief administration halts all its work projects in Orange County An order from Raleigh stopped every Emergency Relief Administration work project in Orange County because relief money had run out while Congress debated a new appropriation. Only three projects were then under way: the University's athletic field, the Chapel Hill streets and the Hillsboro streets. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County · Also mentions: Chapel Hill streetsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 15, 1935, p. 1
  46. Orange County's relief office is merged into a five-county district run from Durham The Emergency Relief Administration merged Orange with Durham, Person, Alamance and Caswell counties in a district headed by A. E. Langston in Durham, ending the post of county relief administrator. George H. Lawrence stayed on as county supervisor for case work and rural rehabilitation, while work-project records and payrolls moved to Durham. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Relief office, Chapel Hill · Also named: A. E. LangstonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 15, 1935, p. 1
  47. Federal relief approves $165,000 for rural electric lines in Orange County The Emergency Relief Administration approved an allotment of $165,000 to build rural electric lines in Orange County, to be spent once Congress voted new work-relief money. The plan rested on a county canvass of farmers sent to Raleigh on November 1, 1934; the lines were to be repaid from the sale of current over as long as 35 years, with the county buying power from the Southern (Duke) Power Company and reselling it to farmers. People: George H. Lawrence, Joseph Hyde Pratt, Gilbert W. Ray, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 15, 1935, p. 1
  48. Rural rehabilitation approves about a hundred Orange farm family budgets With most relief work projects stopped, rural rehabilitation, federal aid to farmers in equipment, seed, cows, pigs and mules, had become the main relief activity in Orange, and about a hundred farm family budgets drawn up by George H. Lawrence had been approved. On March 5 Lawrence and foreman Ed Walker bought a truckload of 23 pigs passing through Carrboro, with the state director's approval by telephone, and placed them on budgeted farms by noon the next day. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County · Also named: Ed WalkerSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 8, 1935, p. 1
  49. Sewing rooms for women on relief open in Chapel Hill and Hillsboro As the Emergency Relief Administration closed, it launched sewing-room projects in Chapel Hill and Hillsboro that the Works Progress Administration took over the same week, with a third planned for Efland; the three were to employ 60 white and Black women at $19 a month. The towels, bedclothing and garments they made went to county welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence for needy families. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Chapel Hill and HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 15, 1935, p. 4
  50. County welfare officer George H. Lawrence calls for more sterilizations in Orange County The Chapel Hill Weekly reported that ten people judged mentally deficient had been sterilized in Orange County under the 1933 state law. Lawrence said there ought to be many more and that the cost, paid from the county's small relief fund, held them back. Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1935, p. 1 (Sterilization Gets Start in Orange County)
  51. Orange relief rolls fall from 900 families to 40 County welfare officer George H. Lawrence reported that the families asking relief had fallen from a peak of 900 in March 1933 to 100, with 40 receiving it, and that the WPA had given jobs to all but 24 of the families on the old ERA list. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1935, p. 1
  52. Welfare officer reports shoeless children and 300 families asking for aid in Orange County welfare officer George H. Lawrence said so many Orange children lacked shoes that the school attendance law could not be enforced in winter. At the school for Black children at Cheeks Crossing, with 77 enrolled, the teacher told him attendance was nearly perfect because the school was the only warm place the children had, though no more than half a dozen were properly clothed; his office had sent clothing to 150 families but had appeals from more than 300. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Cheeks Crossing school and Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 7, 1936, p. 1
  53. The county welfare and health departments set up a free syphilis clinic in Chapel Hill On March 10, 1936 county welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence and health officer Dr. William P. Richardson proposed to local physicians a clinic for people unable to pay for treatment of syphilis, paid for at first by the Red Cross, the Movie Guild and other groups. The physicians then named Dr. Roscoe Farabee clinic physician for the first year, and the clinic was set for Thursdays from 4 to 6 at the health unit's quarters from the week of March 23, with clinics to follow in Hillsboro and Roxboro. People: George H. Lawrence, William P. Richardson Place: District Health Unit, Chapel Hill · Also named: Roscoe FarabeeThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 13, 1936, p. 1
  54. The Chapel Hill Movie Guild reports $1,773 given to relief and town causes Treasurer P. L. Burch reported that in the year ended July 11 the Guild, which drew a share of the Carolina Theatre's Sunday receipts, gave out $1,773: $560 to county welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence for relief in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, $379.94 for hospital care, and money for the University Lake picnic ground, the Boy Scouts, street trees, and lunches for white and Black school children. People: George H. Lawrence, Peter L. Burch Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 17, 1936, p. 1
  55. The county welfare superintendent asks Chapel Hill to help pay for relief George H. Lawrence, county superintendent of public welfare, asked the aldermen to provide $130 a month, for local relief, hospital care and the venereal disease clinic, saying the town should share the burden of the old, disabled and orphaned now that federal aid went only to the employable. He also proposed that Sunday movie proceeds be treated as town revenue. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Board of aldermen, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 17, 1936, p. 1
  56. A sewing room for women on relief opens in Chapel Hill's old town hall At the request of county welfare officer George H. Lawrence, the second floor of the former town hall at Columbia Street and Rosemary Lane was put at his disposal as a sewing room for women on relief. A month later the new Health and Welfare Council named a committee for the sewing room. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Former town hall, Columbia Street and Rosemary Lane, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Columbia Street and Rosemary LaneSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 23, 1936, p. 6
  57. Chapel Hill's new Health and Welfare Council elects officers and committees Formed about a month earlier to coordinate the community's health and charity work and keep groups from overlapping, the Community Health and Welfare Council held its second meeting in the Graham Memorial with about 35 present and elected Dr. J. P. Jones chairman, Mrs. D. D. Carroll vice-chairman and Mrs. H. D. Crockford secretary. It named committees on clinics, defect correction, tuberculosis, venereal disease, the loan closet, the relief sewing room and Christmas giving. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Graham Memorial, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. P. Jones, Mrs. D. D. Carroll, Mrs. H. D. CrockfordSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 20, 1936, p. 1
  58. The welfare office finds at least 35 Chapel Hill schoolchildren without shoes and opens a shoe fund A check by the county welfare office found at least 35 school-age children in the Chapel Hill community practically without shoes; $12 had come in toward a hoped-for $60 shoe fund. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 18, 1936, p. 1
  59. Orange County relief shrinks to people who cannot work, the welfare officer reports County welfare officer George H. Lawrence said that three years earlier Orange County had received as much as $5,000 a month in federal direct relief, while now the only relief money was about $2,000 a year from the county and $700 to $800 a year that Chapel Hill passed on from the Movie Guild. Any able-bodied man who tried could get work, he said; the need that remained was among widows, orphans, the old and the sick. People: George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 24, 1936, p. 1
  60. W. T. Mattox is elected Orange County superintendent of public welfare The county commissioners and the new county board of public welfare chose W. T. Mattox, a graduate of Atlantic Christian College with a Vanderbilt master's degree, to succeed George H. Lawrence on July 1. The state's new Social Security law required every county to have a full-time superintendent with a college degree and welfare experience, which ruled out Lawrence, who kept his University post. People: William T. Mattox, George H. Lawrence Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 25, 1937, p. 2
  61. George H. Lawrence gives up the county welfare post to stay on the University faculty When the new state social security law required a full-time welfare superintendent in every county, Lawrence would not leave the University faculty and resigned the county post effective July 1. As director of field work in UNC's division of social work and public welfare, he and his students went on working for the county. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 11, 1937, p. 1 (New Law Compels Full-Time Service, So Lawrence Will Quit Welfare Post)
  62. UNC field work director George H. Lawrence reports the Efland Home's conditions as appalling After a visit in April 1938, George H. Lawrence, field work director at the University of North Carolina, wrote to the state welfare director that the home was doing more harm than good and that the girls would be better fed in a county jail. Gifts from churches and neighbors had not kept up with the girls' needs. People: George H. Lawrence Place: North Carolina Industrial Home for Colored Girls (Efland Home), 201 Redman Crossing, EflandSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: North Carolina Industrial Home for Colored Girls (Efland Home), National Register nomination (OR2815), p. 20
  63. Louis Graves organizes the Ada Edwards League to rebuild a Black widow's burned farmhouse When the house of Ada Edwards, a Black widow farming near Bethel church about five miles from Chapel Hill with seven dependent children, burned with nearly everything in it, Louis Graves organized an Ada Edwards League in the Weekly to raise money, food and clothing. With P. L. Burch and George Lawrence as a committee, the fund bought groceries, clothes and roofing for the log house she was rebuilding with a grown son and white and Black neighbors; Pi Beta Phi, the Red Cross and the Movie Guild were among the donors. People: Louis Graves, George H. Lawrence, Peter L. Burch Place: Near Bethel church, about five miles from Chapel Hill · Also named: George LawrenceSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 25, 1938, p. 1
  64. Charles Craig draws the plans for Chapel Hill's Negro Community Center, and the state WPA approves them Charles Craig, whom the Weekly called one of Chapel Hill's leading Black citizens, drew the plans and specifications for the Negro Community Center building on the site in the northwest part of town bought with citizens' gifts and deeded to the town, and the state WPA office in Raleigh approved them. Craig, Joseph Hyde Pratt, Roy M. Brown and George H. Lawrence were working out construction details and costs with WPA officials. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, George H. Lawrence, Charles C. Craig Place: Community Center site (later Hargraves Center), northwest Chapel Hill · Also named: Charles Craig, Roy M. BrownThe Chapel Hill Weekly, August 30, 1940, p. 1
  65. Third draft registration enrolls 2,075 men in Orange County In the third wartime draft registration on February 16, 2,075 men registered in Orange County, 1,168 of them at Chapel Hill, where about 720 University students swamped the Memorial hall station and more cards had to be rushed from Raleigh by bus. In the village 254 white men registered at the elementary school and the Town Hall and 194 Black men at O'Kelly's dry-cleaning place on West Franklin Street. People: Luther James Phipps, George H. Lawrence Place: Chapel Hill and Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, February 20, 1942, p. 1

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