The recent listings about Gibsons in Arkansas mention the given names Isom and Isham. My grandfather was Isom Marion Gibson, and HIS grandfather was Isham Gibson. Both were educated and preachers, so I don't think misspelling was involved. Isham was born in KY in 1803, moved to Illinois. Isom was born in Illinois. (Neither of them involved Arkansas.) I had always thought those names were biblical. But I just checked around and googled and found neither one in any Biblical listings. One source said Isham, and its spelling Isom, both come from Anglo-Saxon usage in Northamponshire. I do notice that both have been used as surnames. So, the names seemed to have some importance among the Gibsons, although in my lines I can't find any others before them. Does anyone have any knowledge of these names? Hal Gibson

I checked my Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, has every word in the Bible in it, neither name is in there anywhere. Mary Lyn -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Harald S. Gibson Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 6:03 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [GIBSON] Isom and Isham The recent listings about Gibsons in Arkansas mention the given names Isom and Isham. My grandfather was Isom Marion Gibson, and HIS grandfather was Isham Gibson. Both were educated and preachers, so I don't think misspelling was involved. Isham was born in KY in 1803, moved to Illinois. Isom was born in Illinois. (Neither of them involved Arkansas.) I had always thought those names were biblical. But I just checked around and googled and found neither one in any Biblical listings. One source said Isham, and its spelling Isom, both come from Anglo-Saxon usage in Northamponshire. I do notice that both have been used as surnames. So, the names seemed to have some importance among the Gibsons, although in my lines I can't find any others before them. Does anyone have any knowledge of these names? Hal Gibson To post a message to the list, send it to [email protected] Quote only the specific message to which you are replying, removing the rest of any other messages from your reply. CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE to the content of your reply. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Links to search and browse the archives, or unsub/sub, are at http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/GIBSON.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Isom English: variant of Isham. Isham English: habitational name from a place in Northamptonshire named Isham, from the river name Ise (of Celtic origin) + Old English ham ‘homestead’ or hamm ‘promontory’ or ‘enclosure hemmed in by water’. Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4 Jeffrey -- Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon) 1500 W. Pratt Blvd. Chicago, Illinois e-mail [email protected]