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Lawson Family Heritage Program

Below is an excerpt from the Lawson Family Heritage Program website's front page (an excellent resource!):

Welcome! 

We are the descendants of William Lawson of Montrose, Scotland. 
"Lawson" is one of the Septs of the Clan MacLaren. 

"Septs were families that a clan could regard as loyal, either families related to the clan by blood, or families that obtained protection from the clan. 
In the times of the Scottish Clans the spelling of the name and the inclusion or exclusion of the Mac or Mc was the preference of the individual. Sometimes a serious family dispute would lead to an individual changing the spelling to show this, or a change might be made to show allegiance to another branch of the clan, or to avoid a persecution. This created the blood related septs."

Motto: Creag an Tuirc - (The Boar's Rock)

It is possible that there are two quite separate origins of this name, one arising in Perthshire around Balquhidder, and the other in Tiree in Argyll. In Argyll, the family are said to descend from Lorn, son of Fergus MacErc, founder of the kingdom of Dalriada in the sixth century. In Gaelic, they are Clann Labhruinn. However, the eponymous ancestor is generally given as Laurence, Abbot of Achtow in Balquhidder, who lived in the thirteenth century. The lands of the Church were often held by hereditary lay noblemen who had the courtesy title of abbot.

Learn more here: http://www.lfhp.org/index.html

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