Patrick H. Lawler was a machine designer who was active in the 1860s and '70s. He worked with cooperage machinery makers John Dougherty and J. P. Roche. In 1870, Lawler was manufacturing, under the P. H. Lawler name, "Lawler's patent shingle and barrel head machinery, upright moulding and shaping machines, all kinds of wood working machinery." By 1871 he was a partner with Gregory Nunn in woodworking machinery maker Lawler & Nunn. This partnership was shortlived: by 1873 the business was defunct. Nunn worked for a time as a fireman and then as engineer for a manufacturer of barrel-heads and tobacco pails; Lawler moved to San Diego, and we have not found any information on what he did after that.

Information Sources

• Platt Street, Corner of Mill, Rochester, NY
• From Rochester Directory:
  • 1870—Ad for "P. H. Lawler". The listing reads, "Lawler Patrick H. patternmaker, Platt corner Mill, house 154 Jay.—see page 378" (referring to the ad). There is a listing for "Nunn Gregory (Nunn, Lutringer & Co.), Saxton corner Orange, house do." Another listing is for "Lutringer Augustus (Nunn, Lutringer & Co.), Saxton cor. Orange, house do." There is no hint as to what type of business was conducted by Nunn, Lutringer & Co.
  • 1871—Listing for "Lawler & Nunn, (P. H. Lawler and G. Nunn), machinists, Platt corner Mill". The listing under Patrick H. Lawler simply reads, "Lawler & Nunn); the entry under "Nunn Gregory" reads, "(Lawler & Nunn), Mill cor. Platt, h. Orange near Saxton".
  • 1872—Listings for "Lawler & Nunn, (P. H. Lawler and G. Nunn), machinists, Platt corner Mill". A separate listing under Nunn reveals that his first name was Gregory. The listing for Lawler & Nunn gives there location as "Mill near Brown". Their large ad gives says, "Works and office, Mill street, near foot of Brown, a few Rods north of N. Y. C. R. R. Depot."
  • 1873—Listings for "Lawler Patrick H machinst, Clinton Mill, h.", and "Nunn Gregory, machinist, Clinton Mill, house".
  • 1874—Listings for "Lawler Patrick H. machinist, h. 154 Jay", and "Nunn Gregory, machinist, Brown corner Jay, house Orange near Saxton".
  • 1875—Listing for Lawler unchanged from '74. The listing for Nunn is "Nunn Gregory, machinist, house 68 Orange".
  • 1877—Listings for "Lawler Patrick H. rem'd to San Diego, Cal." and "Nunn Gregory, fireman, house 68 Orange".
  • 1884—Lists Nunn as an "engineer" working at 185 Oak, which corresponds to barrel-head and tobacco-pail manufacturer George Tuety, "successor to Porter & Tuety". There is no listing for Patrick H. Lawler.