ABRAHAM LAWSON was born July 26, 1888, in Lexington, Missouri. His parents were James and Dianah Lawson.
Abraham served in Company B of the 349th Machine Gun Battalion of the 92nd Division of the Army in World War I. The 92nd Infantry Division was a segregated infantry division of the United States Army, and was organized in October 1917 at Camp Funston, Kansas. African American soldiers from all states joined the unit. Before leaving for France in 1918, the American buffalo was selected as the divisional insignia. This nickname had been given to African American cavalrymen by Native Americans in the 19th century.
A special “negro zone” was built at Camp Funston, providing “separate amusement places and exchanges.” A.D. Jellison, a banker in Junction City, Kansas, gave a plot of land for a “community house” to be erected by the black men from the seven states which sent African American trainees.”
The 92nd Division saw combat in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive during November 1918.
After he returned to Lexington following the war, Abraham married Florence (Flossie) Lewis on May 11, 1920. They had no children, and Flossie died June 9, 1932, of heart trouble. Abraham married Rosetta E. Boldridge on April 17, 1955. He worked as a janitor at First Christian Church, and as a coal miner at Western Coal and Mining Company.
Abraham died February 5, 1957, in Lexington at the age of 68 of a stroke. He is buried at Forest Grove Cemetery.
