Nathan Oliver Lawton was born January 30, 1868, in Lawton, Michigan. He was one of nine children of Charles Dewitt and Lucy Lovina (Latham) Lawton; among his siblings were Charles Latham Lawton, who served as superintendent of the Quincy Mining Company for many years, and Swaby Latham Lawton, a prominent lawyer in Hancock, Michigan. Nathan Lawton had the distinction of receiving degrees from what is now Michigan Tech under two different names: he earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the Michigan Mining School in 1891 and his Engineer of Mines degree from the Michigan College of Mines in 1908.

As a mining engineer, mine superintendent, and consulting engineer, Lawton enjoyed a career that saw him traveling throughout the United States. He spent time in Wisconsin, Utah, Newfoundland, Michigan, and Arizona, where he was superintendent of the Miami mine in Globe.

Lawton married Georgiana Blackburn (1871-1964), a native of Canada, in Iron County, Wisconsin, on October 3, 1893. The couple had four children: Charles Blackburn (1894-1965), Olive Margaret (1896/1897-1991), Mildred Latham (1898-1994), and Jean Blackburn (1905-1985).

Nathan Lawton died in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on August 14, 1950, at the age of 82. He was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, located in the town that bore his family’s name, the following day.