Lawson Bates

Michaela, Erin, Alyssa, Tori, Carlin, Josie, Katie, Addallee, Ellie & Callie-Anna (sisters)

### Other(s)

Bates Family
Espensen Family (in-laws)

### Social media

Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
TikTok
Website

**William Lawson Bates** (born July 27, 1992) is the fourth child and second son of Gil Bates and Kelly Bates.

He is the brother of Zachary Bates, Michaela Keilen, Erin Paine, Nathan Bates, Alyssa Webster, Tori Smith, Trace Bates, Carlin Stewart, Josie Balka, Katie Clark, Jackson Bates, Warden Bates, Isaiah Bates, Addallee Bates, Ellie Bates, Callie-Anna Bates, Judson Bates, and Jeb Bates.

He is the husband of Tiffany Bates.

## Early life

William Lawson Bates was born on July 27, 1992, in Tennessee, to Gil Bates and Kelly Bates. He was the couple's fourth child, and they went on to have fifteen more children after him.

Lawson's first name, William, is after his father and grandfather. Some of his close family members call him "Willie". Lawson's middle name, which he goes by with most people, was picked out by his older brother, Zach, before his parents even knew he was going to be a boy.

Lawson spoke about having so many siblings in interviews, where he said: *"It's really good for relationship building. There's always someone there to show you who's been through it before."*

Lawson is said to be a humorous person who has always kept his family in stitches. His parents also consider him wise and cautious.

Along with his siblings, Lawson was homeschooled growing up. Although he was brought up as an active participant of Bill Gothard's Institute in Basic Life Principles, he has denounced Bill Gothard and his ministry as an adult. *"IBLP & ATI are no longer affiliated with Mr. Gothard,"* Lawson said in a comment on his sister Erin's Instagram photo. *"ALL of us make our own decisions & follow Jesus Christ. People will always let you down. Christ never will. My dad joined the board only around 2 years ago & was as unaware of accusations as anyone. I don't support him or his ministry."* It is unclear if the "ministry" Lawson is referring to is IBLP or Bill Gothard's new ministries.

Lawson has always loved music. He started playing the piano when he was seven years old, followed by the mandolin at nine years old, and the guitar at eleven years old. He wrote his first song when he was fifteen years old.

At eleven years old, Lawson became a Christian.

Lawson opened his own lawn-cutting business, Lawson's Lawncare in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at only thirteen years old. His business proved very successful, and by the time he was nineteen years old, he was able to loan out large sums to members of his family, including $1,000 to his brother Zach for a car, $2,000 to his sister Erin for college tuition, and $4,000 or $5,000 to his father just to pay the bills. *"They're good for it,"* he said of these loans. *"I don't need the money right now anyway."*

One of Lawson's chores as a teenager was doing the family's grocery shopping, which he often paid for himself.

## Personal life

### Courtship rumors

It had been rumored that he was courting a number of different young women over the years since he became an adult, including Jana Duggar and Emily Ann Roberts.

The most notable rumor is that Lawson was interested in Jinger Duggar. Although this has been speculated for a long time, the speculation took off due to the timing of a number vague social media posts he posted when Jinger announced her courtship and then wedding to Jeremy Vuolo. On June 20, 2016, when Jinger announced she was courting Jeremy, Lawson posted two tweets: *"Things aren't always as they seem"* and *"[Time] always tells..."*. At 6:50 a.m. on November 5, 2016, the day of Jinger's wedding, Lawson tweeted: *"If you saw me last night & I was a lil out of sorts, sorry; It was quite a day."*. At 5:07 p.m. that day, presumably at the wedding reception, Lawson tweeted: *"As long as you're comparing, you'll never be content."*.

On January 10, 2019, Jana Duggar joined Instagram. She was the first single Duggar to have her own Instagram account. Lawson commented on her first couple of posts, which generated a lot of speculation among followers that he and Jana were courting. On January 10, 2019, Jana's sister Jessa Seewald posted a photo of Jana with their niece Felicity Vuolo. A number of commenters asked if Jana was courting, and Jessa said that Jana was not "in a relationship". On January 17, 2019, Lawson posted a picture on his Instagram of him holding a rose. The photo, which was part of a series of posts promoting a new single he was releasing, increased the speculation. One commenter said *"Please tell me that rose is for Jana"*, and gossip increased when the official Bates family Instagram account liked the comment. In response, Lawson spoke to *InTouch Magazine*, saying that his mom didn't know what she was doing when she liked the comment. Despite these denials, speculation continues.

### Relationship with Tiffany

Lawson began dating Tiffany Espensen on September 22, 2020. He confirmed his relationship with Tiffany on February 4, 2021, when she joined him and his family on a getaway to Colorado.

### Engagement

Lawson and Tiffany announced their engagement on October 28, 2021. They got engaged on October 26, 2021 in Siena, Italy, during a trip to Italy where both Lawson and Tiffany's parents were present. Lawson invited them to Italy under the pretense that he was shooting a new music video for his song "Crazy Love" that he sings as a duet with Tiffany.

### Marriage

On May 12, 2022, Lawson married Tiffany Lian Espensen on the California Spirit yacht in San Diego, California. The wedding had around 200 guests. The wedding was officiated by Lawson's father Gil Bates and Tiffany's pastor Jim Garlow. Lawson's best man was his brother Nathan. His groomsmen were his brothers Trace, Jackson, Warden, and Isaiah and his friend Jonas Thatcher. The ring bearers were Lawson's nephews Bradley and Carson. Tiffany's matron of honor was her mother Robin. Her bridesmaids were Lawson's sister Ellie, Lawson's sister-in-law Esther, her cousin Mia Martin, and her friend Chelle Andreoli. The flower girls were Lawson's nieces Kaci and Khloé. The pianist was Lawson's brother-in-law Bobby. Lawson wrote the song "When I Say These Vows" for the wedding. The ushers were Lawson's brothers Zach and Judson and Tiffany's brother Erik.

For their honeymoon, Lawson and Tiffany went to Greece.

### Fatherhood

On December 14, 2023, he and Tiffany uploaded a video to their YouTube channel where they revealed that in early 2023 they found out they were expecting their first child, but shortly after finding out they suffered a miscarriage. They named their miscarried child **Hope Bates**.

## Health

On October 5, 2022, Lawson's wife Tiffany revealed that Lawson has chronic asthma. She revealed that he had been getting worse over the past week. Lawson has been hospitalized for this in the past.

## Career

### Law enforcement

Lawson worked as a Reserve Deputy for the Anderson County Sheriff's Department in Clinton, Tennessee. He worked alongside his brothers Zach and Trace.

### Excavating

Lawson sometimes works for his father Gil's tree excavating company, Bates Tree Service in Rocky Top, Tennessee. He works alongside his brothers Zach, Nathan, Trace, Jackson, Warden, and Isaiah.

### Pilot

On April 2020, Lawson received his Private Pilot's license.

### EMT

Lawson received his EMT license on November 19, 2020.

### Music

Lawson began his musician career performing in gigs with his family. As an adult, he decided to strike out on his own for a solo career as a singer and instrumentalist. At eighteen years old, he began working with Andy Leftwich, an award-winning instrumentalist and producer, on his first solo album.

*"With music it has been different,"* Lawson said of his solo career. *"It's not me with the Bates family. It's make it or break it based off of my music strictly. That is a little scary especially when you're writing country music you share a lot of your heart."*

On October 30, 2013, Lawson released his first album, "Freedom Sure Ain't Free", which contains twelve tracks of country and gospel music. Two of the tracks were original songs.

On January 28, 2015, Lawson released a single, "I Thought I Had Problems". This single included vocals by Rachel Leftwich. Lawson said this single was released to raise awareness and support for global disaster relief.

On February 4, 2016, Lawson released a single, "I Will Always". This single hit number 46 on iTunes country charts, and was number 1 on Amazon traditional country charts.

On November 10, 2016, Lawson released his second album, "What Country Means to Me", which contains twelve tracks of country music. Two of the tracks are duets with Emily Ann Roberts, who was a contestant on NBC's singing competition show *The Voice*. Eight of the tracks on this album are original songs.

On January 24, 2019, Lawson released a single, "One + One". He co-wrote this song with Adam Wheeler to perform for his sister Tori's wedding to Bobby Smith on December 16, 2017.

Lawson has posted a number of music videos on his YouTube channel. His most notable video is for his song, "Past the Past", which features Sadie Robertson from the A&E show *Duck Dynasty*.

Lawson often performs at children's hospitals, wanting to help those in need. *"It's something that I look forward to. I'll just kind of go room to room or sometimes I'll get a group. I've made so many friends over there."*

### Missionary work

Lawson has gone on a number of mission trips as an adult.

In 2011, Lawson went on a 10 day mission trip in Guatemala, where they assisted in a house building project, distributed food baskets, and helping at an orphanage.

In 2014, he and his brother Nathan, along with friend John-David Duggar, went to the Philippines to assist with medical work with Blessing International.

In 2015, Lawson returned to the Philippines, where he did more medical work in areas that had recently been affected by typhoons.

In 2017, Lawson went on a mission trip to Haiti. It is unknown what he did there.

In October 2017, Lawson went to Puerto Rico to help with relief after the island was hit by Hurricanes Harvey and Maria.

### Disaster relief

Lawson volunteers for MEDIC Corps, helping people around the world hit by natural disasters. He works alongside some of his brothers and some of the Duggar siblings.

### Television

Lawson appeared on the TLC show *19 Kids and Counting* many times as a teenager and young adult.

In 2012, TLC aired one season of the show *United Bates of America*, which focused on Lawson's family.

In 2015, UpTV began airing a similar show, *Bringing Up Bates*. Lawson was regularly featured on both shows.

## Wedding involvement

Lawson was a groomsman and singer at his brother Zach's wedding to Whitney Perkins on December 14, 2013.

He was a groomsman and singer at his sister Michaela's wedding to Brandon Keilen on August 15, 2015.

He was a groomsman and singer at his sister Tori's wedding to Bobby Smith on December 16, 2017.

He was a singer at his sister Josie's wedding to Kelton Balka on October 5, 2018.

He was a groomsman and singer at his sister Carlin's wedding to Evan Stewart on May 25, 2019.

He was a groomsman and singer at his brother Nathan's wedding to Esther Keyes on October 22, 2021.

He was a singer at his sister Katie's wedding to Travis Clark on December 3, 2021.

He was the singer at his brother Trace's wedding to Lydia Romeike on October 1, 2022.

## Gallery

* Lawson as a baby.
* Lawson in July 2019.
* Lawson in December 2019.
* Lawson in March 2020.
* Lawson in April 2020.
* Lawson in May 2020.
* Lawson in December 2020.
* Lawson in October 2021.
* Engagement announcement.
* Lawson in February 2022.
* Just married.
* Honeymoon.
* Lawson in February 2023.
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