| Cornelius Lawrence | |
| Office1: | Collector of the Port of New York |
| Term Start1: | 1845 |
| Term End1: | 1849 |
| Predecessor1: | Cornelius P. Van Ness |
| Successor1: | Hugh Maxwell |
| Order2: | 61st Mayor of New York City |
| Term Start2: | 1834 |
| Term End2: | 1837 |
| Predecessor2: | Gideon Lee |
| Successor2: | Aaron Clark |
| State3: | New York |
| District3: | 3rd |
| Term Start3: | March 4, 1833 |
| Term End3: | May 14, 1834 |
| Predecessor3: | Seat added |
| Successor3: | Charles G. Ferris |
| Birth Name: | Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence |
| Birth Date: | 28 February 1791 |
| Birth Place: | Flushing, New York |
| Death Place: | Flushing, New York |
| Restingplace: | Lawrence Cemetery, Bayside, New York |
| Party: | Democratic-Republican Jacksonian Democratic |
| Profession: | Merchant Businessman |
| Spouse: | Lydia A. Lawrence |
Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence (February 28, 1791 – February 20, 1861) was a politician from New York. He became the first popularly elected mayor of New York City after the law was changed in 1834.[1]
Lawrence was born in Flushing, New York, on February 28, 1791. He was a cousin of Effingham Lawrence[2] and was a descendant of John Lawrence and John Bowne, both Quakers and pioneer English settlers of Queens.
Lawrence attended the public schools and worked on his father's farm. He moved to New York City in 1812 to embark on a business career, first at the Shotwell, Hicks & Co. auctioneering firm, and later as a partner in the wholesale dry goods firm of Hicks, Lawrence & Co.
Lawrence was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-third Congress, serving from March 4, 1833, to May 14, 1834, when he resigned, becoming mayor of New York (1834–1837). He also served as director in several banks and trust companies and, was president of the Bank of the State of New York for more than 20 years. From 1845 to 1849, Lawrence served as Collector of the Port of New York.
He had a son, James Ogden Lawrence (died August 1, 1904).[3]
Lawrence died in Flushing (the same place he was born in) on February 20, 1861, 8 days shy of his 70th birthday. He was interred in the family burying ground in Bayside, New York.[4]