{"id":3237,"date":"2023-03-06T10:17:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T10:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/staging\/?page_id=3237"},"modified":"2025-05-27T10:23:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T10:23:24","slug":"bill-chris-lawson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/staging\/about-hebrides-people\/bill-chris-lawson\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Lawson BL, ASGRA, FSA(Scot)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The genealogy resource at Hebrides People, known as \u2018C\u00f2 Leis Thu?\u2019, is based on over 60 years of research by Bill Lawson.<\/p>\n\n

Bill Lawson was born in Stirling and grew up in Ayrshire, where he attended Prestwick High School and Ayr Academy. Bill studied Law at Glasgow University and trained as a Chartered Surveyor. He taught Law in Paisley for eighteen years. All those years his holidays were spent in Harris, and it was then that his interest in the genealogies of the Western Isles started.<\/p>\n\n

In 1981 he became the Project Leader of the Integrated Development Programme, a European-funded programme for the Western Isles. This gave him the chance to move to the Western Isles, and when the programme finished he settled in the village of Northton in Harris, where he took over and renovated the village school and schoolhouse.<\/p>\n\n

Aware that the older people, the bearers of the genealogies, were getting fewer and fewer, he began to compile family histories from their knowledge, and also from the records at Register House in Edinburgh. His work expanded to the emigration areas of North America and Australia. Bill learned Gaelic, which was essential for his work in gathering the genealogies.<\/p><\/div>\n\n

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C\u00f2 leis thu?<\/h2>\n\n

From the Old School House, Bill started his company, \u2018C\u00f2 Leis Thu?\u2019 (meaning \u2018Who you belong to?\u2019) and for twelve years he and his late wife, Chris, operated a family history tracing service. During this time, Bill also spent a number of years on the Crofters\u2019 Commission.<\/p>\n\n

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The \u2018C\u00f2 Leis Thu?\u2019 genealogy research service has now been passed on to Northton Heritage Trust which is based at Hebrides People Visitor Centre in Northton, Harris. As Bill is a consultant to the Trust, this arrangement allows him to continue with new research into the emigration areas in Canada and Australia, and also allows him to write and publish from his base in Harris.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Explore further<\/h2>
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Western Isles Genealogy<\/a><\/h2>\n\n
One of the major problems with family tracing in the Western Isles is the scarcity and poor quality of written records. The decennial census is … Read more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>
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About Hebrides People<\/a><\/h2>\n\n
Hebrides People is a unique genealogy resource covering the Western Isles of Scotland. Hebrides People Visitor Centre tells the history of the people and landscapes … Read more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>
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Oral Tradition<\/a><\/h2>\n\n
Oral tradition includes song, story, and preservation of family relationships. Written records are generally late and of variable quality in the Western Isles compared to … Read more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>
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Name Standardisation<\/a><\/h2>\n\n
In using any written sources, it is essential to bear in mind that the people of the islands were overwhelmingly Gaelic speaking. These records were … Read more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The genealogy resource at Hebrides People, known as \u2018C\u00f2 Leis Thu?\u2019, is based on over 60 years of research by Bill Lawson. Bill Lawson was born in Stirling and grew up in Ayrshire, where he attended Prestwick High School and Ayr Academy. Bill studied Law at Glasgow University and trained as a Chartered Surveyor. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5245,"parent":3235,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3237","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nBill Lawson BL, ASGRA, FSA(Scot) - Hebrides People Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The genealogy resource at Hebrides People, known as \u2018C\u00f2 Leis Thu?\u2019, is based on over 60 years of research by Bill Lawson.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill Lawson BL, ASGRA, FSA(Scot) - Hebrides People Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The genealogy resource at Hebrides People, known as \u2018C\u00f2 Leis Thu?\u2019, is based on over 60 years of research by Bill Lawson.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/staging\/about-hebrides-people\/bill-chris-lawson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hebrides People Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T10:23:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Bill-in-Library.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1773\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1182\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/staging\/about-hebrides-people\/bill-chris-lawson\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/staging\/about-hebrides-people\/bill-chris-lawson\/\",\"name\":\"Bill Lawson BL, ASGRA, FSA(Scot) - 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