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Welcome To The Lawson Surname DNA Project

, who has a Lawson ancestress, initiated the project in May of 2003. and volunteered as co-administrators in 2004 and 2006. Carl maintains our website. The project includes the various spelling of the surname Lawson, such as Lausen and Losson.

Introduction

At one time or another most of us have had a desire to know about our origins and where our Lawsons came from.  Many of us join the quest early in life and others may have put it off until our later years, but sooner or later it gets to all of us.  We collect data from parents and grandparents, bibles, birth certificates, courthouses, libraries and now we use the Internet.  However, it seems many of us always come to what has been referred to as our “brick wall”.

Now we have a new tool, DNA testing, that may help in connecting to other Lawsons and maybe help push back the “brick wall” one or two generations.  We still need to do the above detective work to capture as much information on our families and build our pedigree or ancestral charts before moving on to the DNA testing.  As you work at collecting the data, you may find that the records that would otherwise connect your ancestors may be lost, destroyed or otherwise absent.  This is when DNA becomes invaluable in re-connecting individuals, surnames and families.  Hopefully this is when you will decide to join our Lawson DNA Project to find a way around this “brick wall”.

Statistical information about the Lawson population from the Lawson International Registry, done in 1996, estimated a total population of Lawsons to be 113,650 in the United States, with Tennessee having the largest population of Lawsons.

Great Britain was next with a population of 42,830, then Australia with 9,541 and Canada with 7,691, to name the top countries.  The Registry showed Lawsons in 15 countries and they may not have found them all and only used the spelling of Lawson.

Goal Of The Project

Our objective is a standard surname project, where we hope to connection those of us with the surname of Lawson or it’s various spelling.  We believe that there are a number of clusters of Lawsons that share a common ancestor.  By grouping the various lines of Lawsons in a database by their Y-chromosome DNA signature and then comparing their submitted pedigrees, we hope to be able to make additional connections for our families and push back the “brick walls”.

Gayle had this in mind when she picked her goal for our project: -
“The main goal of this project is to sort out all of the Lawsons, Lausens and Lossons all over the world.”

This is a great undertaking and since the largest numbers of Lawsons are in the United States, this is where we started.  We have added members from Great Britain and Australia and we hope to add more.

The Plan

The Y-chromosome DNA testing needs to be done by a male with the surname of Lawson or one of the other spellings.  The Y-chromosome is only carried by males and is passed down from father to son and follows the paternal line.  If you are a female researcher of a Lawson line, then you will need to get a brother, father, uncle or cousin with the surname of Lawson to take the test for you.

We have chosen FamilyTreeDNA as our testing company and they provide us with a Public site called My FamilyTreeDNA Lawson DNA Project, where you can find information about our project, links to frequently asked questions (FAQ) about DNA testing, Genealogy by genetics and how to join our project.

As a registered surname project with FamilyTreeDNA, they are willing to give us a discount on new members.  You should go to “Join the Lawson Surname Project” where you will find a form that will need to be completed and you are able to pay by credit card or invoice.

You will need to choose the type of test in their pull down window. The pull down window will show the cost for each of the tests.  We are building our database using the Y-DNA tests.  There are four tests offered: Y-DNA12, Y-DNA25, Y-DNA37 and Y-DNA67.  We have found that the Y-DNA12 does not give us enough information and we do recommend the Y-DNA37 or at least Y-DNA25.  You can upgrade a Y-DNA12, to a Y-DNA25, Y-DNA37 or Y-DNA67, but it will cost more if you go this route.

After you have completed and submitted your test request, you will need to complete a pedigree chart and send it to .  You can go to this link to see an example of the pedigree chart that we would like to receive.  To protect your privacy, we usually do not include the names and dates of the living members of the family, unless the submitter requests it.

If you have joined our project, then the test results will be sent to you and also the co-administrators.  We will then post them on our Chart for 37 Alleles and 67 Alleles with a copy of the pedigree chart.  Hopefully you will match one of the other members who you will be able to contact.

The Test Kit