George R. Lawrence - Marriage, Remarriage & Death

Marriage, Remarriage & Death

In 1909, while he was away on an expensive and frustrating adventure attempting to take aerial photographs of wild animals in British East Africa, his wife found that he had been having an affair with one of his secretaries. Upon his return, he fled to California, taking his sons with him. He then turned from photography to aviation, building an aircraft at a factory in Chicago. He would be granted nearly a hundred patents for aviation-related devices.

He divorced his first wife in 1913 (with whom he had had two children), and married Adele Frances "Della" Page in 1916. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri and was the daughter of Henry J. Page, an architect. George Lawrence was 55 years old and Della was 22 years old when they married. They had four daughters: Clara Antoinette, Virginia Lee, Ruth Adele, and Martha "Louise" Lawrence.

Lawrence's aircraft company folded in 1919. He died in 1938, aged 70, and funeral services were held at St. Gertrude's Roman Catholic Church in Chicago. He was buried at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Manteno, Illinois.

George and Della's four daughters are all deceased, but he survived by 19 descendants: 8 grandchildren: Vincent Maggio; Michael Maggio, Donna Walsh (Clara's children); Louise Bing (Virginia's child); Thomas L.Phinney; Nan Phinney; Robert Phinney, and Carolyn R. Phinney (Louise's children); 7 great-grand children; and 2 great-great-grandchildren.