BURLESON FAMILY AND COAT OF ARMS

The Burleson family and the Burleson family name is of English origin, with the name being of the surname type known as an occupational name. The Old English or Saxon language had the word burle meaning "to dress or finish cloth" by removing the small burs or knots of thread sometimes formed in weaving. That produced an original name of Burle, and the son of Burle became Burleson. The name appeared in northern England near the Scotch border very early, for ancient English records mention a certain Hugo Burleson by the year 1202, and there is also mention of a John Byrleson by about 1210. That difference in spelling was often found in all family names. The Burleson family came to America prior to the American Revolution, and the Census of 1790 (the first census ever taken for the United States) listed no less than six Burleson families in North Carolina. Two of those families, the families of David Burleson and Isaac Burleson, were living in Montgomery County in 1790, and they were in that area of Montgomery County which was later cut off to form the new county of Stanly.