This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Glisson, Glawson Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/5R.2ADI/918.3.2 Message Board Post: Hi, I just wanted to tell you what I did dig up about the Glissons in my searches. Most of the Glissons I found were traced at rootsweb and ancestry.com trees (some well documented with land deals; some I could not see documentation) back to Obediah Lidiah Glisson, who entered the North Carolina area, supposedly from England, between 1650 and 1700 or so. (His ancestors were originally from France; the name means something like 'glass maker') I did find some of the Florida Glissons, coming from Burke County I think according to the trees (think Burke???). And they were traced back to the Glissons from North Carolina and Obediah Lidiah it seems in many cases. Don't think people make the name up generally though; think they get it through their father's line. (Some people who were slaves but fathered by a White even take their White father's name, because everyone knows . . . ) Some people take their mother's name (like Mary Jemison, who was captured by the Indians, named all her children Jemison because in the Iroquois culture it's the mother who bestows the family or clan name on the child). Some Spanish people today have two last names (mother's and father's). I remember seeing some Florida Glissons in the tree, where the children were named "Oceola" (the girl was named this; or "Oceola Opalaha") and Fero (the boy was named this). Oceola might be a variant of Osceola; so you might be right about the Seminole connection; though I read that a lot of people admired Osceola anyway. So that might be where the name comes in. (And maybe it is "Ophelia" misspelled; but I am not sure that sounds right.) That's all stuff I glanced on in trees; I do not remember how well it was documented. --CEW