This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ktsok Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.tennessee.counties.hawkins/2264.2.4.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Thank you for the Clems! I got trapped in the McClellan, Clel, Clen, Clem, Clint conundrum and it took me a while to figure it out...I hope I figured it out. This whole German connection is BIG TIME NEWS to me and I don't really subscribe to it! In all the work my mother did she never found a hint of Germany except in the Amyx name on my father's mother's side (she was a Williams and had a Mary Francis Amyx [German name] married to a William Lawrence [Irish immigrant]). Apparently this Mary Francis was not the one related to Isaac Amyx. My father and his father said his family was Scots-Irish. The British Isles are full of Lawsons and I tend to believe it was the census taker who (if they couldn't read or write)used a phoenitic spelling. The fact that someone (you?) found the name spelled Lawson and Losson in the same vicinity (census record?) tells me there may have been Germans and Englishmen in the area. I admit I have been surprised how early people came here from Germany, France and, now, Sweden. I thought this was pretty much an English/Irish/Scottish country until the very late 1700s and early 1800s. I know nothing of "naming traditions" so I can't even make an intelligent deduction on that. I read that a similar naming pattern (father's first name) was used by the Melungians. I do know that many native Americans were organized matrilineally and I think that's a good idea! I have wondered if the reason nobody has come up with the old Lawson Family Bible(s), is because there aren't any. If they couldn't read or write, it seems a Bible would have been a luxury in a hard-scrabble world. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.