PAULINE STEVENS LAWRIE  (c1841 – 1928)

Pauline Stevens Lawrie was born around 1841 in Waverly, Saline County, Missouri.  She was the daughter of the slave master whose name is unknown, and an enslaved mother, Rosetta Stevens Jones (c1819 – d. after 1900) born in Virginia.  Rosetta was a huge brown-skinned woman with thick features and kinky hair, which she generally wore, parted in the middle.

Pauline had a very fair complexion, long black waist length hair, and blue eyes.  Pauline had little or no traits of her African heritage.  She was a house slave.  She was frequently treated cruelly by her white half sisters and their white mother.  Being envious of Pauline’s beauty the white woman cut her waist length hair up to her shoulders.

Pauline married Squire Lawrie (c1821-1897) around 1861.  They had 7 children. 

The Lawrie's lived in an apartment building known a Robidex Row.  It had been built by the founder of St Joseph, MO, and later made into apartments.

All of Pauline’s children physically favored their father, Squire Lawrie.  Pauline spent her life after slavery, as a nursemaid in the homes of the St Joseph, MO elite.  She was a person who liked to dress up and would always be seen in fine dress and dangling earrings.  The people for whom she worked gave her many fine things.

Pauline was a deeply religious person and was a devoted member of Ebenezer A.M.E. Church in St Joseph, MO.  She lived to the age of 87.  She suffered a fatal attack of indigestion after eating an apple salad.  She died December 31, 1928 in St Joseph, MO.

Sources:

1870, 1880 U S Census for St Joseph, MO

1900 U S Census for Lawrence, KS

Oral history from Pauline’s granddaughter