Joseph Wilson Lawrence was an historian, author, politician, furniture maker, and undertaker born in Saint John, New Brunswick on 28 February 1818, the son of Alexander Lawrence, a Scottish immigrant and furniture maker, and his wife, Mary Wilson. Joseph Lawrence and his brother George inherited their father's furniture manufacturing business around 1843.

Joseph learned his father's trade but was also an exceptional student. J.W. Lawrence began researching New Brunswick history very early and was one of the first citizens to begin collecting documents and other relics. At the age of 17, Joseph Lawrence and his friend, Samuel Leonard Tilley, formed the Young Men's Debating Society which lasted for many years and was the stepping stone to his public life. In 1839, Joseph Lawrence and Leonard Tilley became Anglican Sunday school teachers. The following year, both Tilley and Lawrence took the total abstinence pledge. On 10 June 1846, J.W. Lawrence married Anna Catherine Bloomfield of New York in the Dutch Reformed Church in New York City. They had at least 3 sons and 2 daughters.

Lawrence entered into politics during the 1850s and was elected twice to the Legislature in New Brunswick as Saint John's representative. J.W. Lawrence was strongly opposed to Confederation. He was appointed chairman of the European and North American Railway Commission in 1866, but was dismissed from this position because of his views on Confederation.

Beginning in 1870, Joseph W. Lawrence devoted his time to historical research. He was a founding member of the New Brunswick Historical Society and was elected president at the first meeting, a position he held until the time of his death in 1892. J.W. Lawrence wrote several papers on various topics for presentation to the society. Joseph Lawrence was also a corresponding member of both the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, and the New York Historical Society, an Honourary Member of the Quebec Literary and Historical Society and an Honourary Member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity. On 11 April 1867, Joseph Lawrence was made a life member of the Saint John Mechanics Society which his father had helped to found.

Joseph W. Lawrence was the author of "Footprints or Incidents in early history of New Brunswick" (1883), "A minority report on the proposed Baie Verte Canal" (1876), "Loyalists' Centennial Souvenir" (1883), and "The Judges of New Brunswick And Their Times" (published posthumously in 1907). Joseph Lawrence died 6 November 1892; his widow, Anna, died 6 months later in May 1893.

Sources: Huia G. Ryder, Antique Furniture by New Brunswick Craftsman; New Brunswick Historical Society Collections, vol. 1; Acadiensis, vol.1, no.1