The Lawson Family Name

My research into my family name has developed into a One Name Study which I
have registered with the Guild of One Name Studies. As a result of this
research I have gathered masses of data from a variety of sources and I would
wish this to be freely available to anyone interested in the Lawson name.

The census reports of 1841 to 1891 contain what is probably to genealogists,
the most important data from which we can learn much about our ancestors. I
have spent many hours searching census records and rather than this go to
waste I would rather it be easily available to others. With this in mind the
contents of my data is contained in the file LAWSONCE.DBF in a dBase format.
I actually used PCFile to process the data but the format can be imported
into many databases. This file may be given without charge to anyone
interested in the subject so long as this text file is accompanied with it.
Additional files, in a similar format, are available for the St. Catherine's
Index of Lawson births 1837-1859 and 1860 to 1879 and a similar file for
marriages 1837-1880 will be available shortly.

My research indicates the earliest reference to the name Lawson was in
Littondale, Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire during the 12th century. My own
family originate from the Knaresborough region which is fairly close to this
area of the county. Today the town is probably more famous for Mother
Shipton's caves than anything and is virtually a suburb of Harrogate.
However, even as late as the end of the 19th century, Knaresborough was a
busy and thriving industrial town, being situated on the river Nidd.
Obviously, as you will know, the Lawson name today is very widespread indeed
not only in the U.K. but throughout the world. My great grandfather Joseph
made the rather short migration to Leeds in the 1860's. It is probable that
there are several different sources of the name from both England and
Scotland.

I am currently gathering all references to the Lawson name from whatever
source I can and I have now downloaded the new 1993 computer CD Rom from the
Mormon Church. In addition I am attempting to complete all birth records from
the St. Catherine's Index and whilst this is quite a large task in itself I
do hope to complete this eventually. At the present time I have completed the
period from 1837 to 1880. I hope to include marriages and deaths too with the
view to building a wider computer database of the references gathered. I have
made good inroads into the Yorkshire census records and am again building a
database from these entries. I have also gathered more individual details
from other corespondents from the information they have supplied to me and
hopefully this will all be of some benefit to other researchers along the
way. It is my intention to make all my records freely available to anybody
who would like them and in return all I ask is that fellow researchers pass
on their data to me for inclusion in my records.

Much criticism has been levelled at the mere gathering of lists of names etc.
and it is my intention to collate the data gathered so as to compare aspects
of Lawsons throughout the British Isles and world, for example the
geographical location of populations over periods of time, life expectancy in
relation to areas of the country and other social data which may prove to be
interesting. During the earlier years of the St. Catherine's Index
(1837-1865) Lawsons were most predominant throughout the northern counties of
Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham and Northumberland and accounted for 21.76%,
17.03%, 14.22% and 6.66% of the total births respectively. This represents an
accumulative total of almost 60% from a total of over 7,100 births. It is
also a common Scottish name but at this stage I do not have figures or birth
records available to me. There have been several quite famous Lawsons and I
may one day concentrate on some of the better known families. At this quite
early stage I have not attempted to embark upon a Newsheet but it would be my
hope to provide information of a general nature for other researchers at some
future time in a periodic format. It is my intention to freely give any
interested researcher access to the information or data that I have collated.

Naturally the success of this venture depends upon the amount of time and
effort that I can personally devote to it and also the involvement of other
researchers willing to provide details of their own studies. To this end I
welcome contributions from anybody at any time and from where ever, so as to
build upon the base I have started. There are, of course, many reference
sources and the confirmation of the basic events of birth, death and marriage
are a most vital part of this study. Nevertheless, such references are not
always available and I consider that some detail is always better than none
whatsoever. Whilst I do have easy access to the Yorkshire census reports
those for other counties are not so easily available to me. Census records do
contain possibly more information than any other single reference and I would
be especially grateful to receive detailed records where possible. 

In making this data available without charge I hope that it will assist other
genealogists in their research. In return all I ask is that details of your
own research be passed to me for inclusion in my databases which in turn will
benefit each and every researcher.

4th September, 1994

Gerry Lawson
47 Hall Park Avenue
Horsforth
Leeds LS18 5LR
England

Tel: 0532 585597