Mathias was the first to be buried in Grisso Family Cemetery in Roanoke, VA.

There are two similar variations on the story of Mathias’ arrival in America, printed in the county history books so popular during the late 1800’s.

In “A Biographical Record of Clark County Ohio” (DeBeers 1884), an article entitled “The Centennarian of Donnell’s Creek” begins with the paragraph:

“The subject of this sketch is George Gresso Sr. It is a matter of record that sometime during the colonial days there was a family of nine, named Gresso. The father was of French descent and his wife German. The father being preceeded by a brother to America, embarked with his family to the new world, but disease overtook them, and all died except the two youngest children, one an infant and the other two years old, who arrived in America. The babe was found in a poorhouse by his uncle who, as mentioned, preceeded them to America and adopted it, and about a year later he found the other also in a poorhouse and adopted it. He reared them both to manhood. They then settled in Botatot County, Va., near Lynchburg.”

The above profile was written the same year that George died, and was probably obtained from interviews of his children.

The History of Roanoke County and Bent Mountain Virginia, p. 184, in a profile of the Jacob Grisso family, has the variation: "A well authenticated tradition is to the effect that the branch of the family which located in this section of Virginia emanated from a single male child who survived a yellow fever scourge in the immigration of the Grisso family from Europe many years ago. Yellow fever broke out on board the German emigrant ship in which the Grisso family sailed for America. On arrival at the American port, a little boy was all that was left of the name. He first settled in Bedford County and afterwards made his way to the Back Creek section of Roanoke County, and upon reaching manhood married. He was the father of Jacob Grisso, George Grisso who went west, and a daughter, afterwards Mrs. Lud Sisson."

The county histories of this period were very cavalier about calling any family tradition a “matter of record” and “well authenticated” if it was widely accepted. So far as I am aware there is no documention of these traditions. But the fact that very similar stories were passed down to the Ohio descendants of George, and the Virginia descendants of Jacob, who would have had little contact with each other after about 1813, does lend credence to the tradition, suggesting at least that both Jacob and George heard it from their father.

The only passenger arrival record I can find that contains a similar name is a “Matteas Cresse” who arrived in Philadelphia on board the ship Elizabeth on 30 Oct 1738. Interestingly, this is the same ship which carried the Johan Gorg Arnold who is the ancestor of the German Baptist Brethren Arnold’s. (See http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/palship7.htm for a complete passenger list.) Note that Matthias’ son George’s name was written as "George Cressoe" on the marriage bond to Catherine Frantz, and as "George Cressel” on his second marriage to Nancy Frantz. The marriage record of Matthias’ daughter Polly to Martin Miller also records her name as Polly Cressoe. So it is not at all unlikely that the Matteas Cresse who arrived in 1738 is either our Matthias Grisso, or the uncle described in the first sketch. If it is our Matthias, then he was older than is indicated in the two county histories, because the immigrant Matteas Cresse swore the oath of allegiance, indicating that he was at least 16 years old.

Tax lists for Chester Co., Pennsylvania, list Matt’w Cresso on the list of Freemen taxed in 1770.

“Cresse” or “Cresso”, however, is also not a name that appears in German records. It is likely that the actual family name was something like Kresse or Kriese, which are more common names. While this name shift makes it unlikely we will ever discover our European ancestors, it makes it easy to track relatives in the United States!

1810 census of Botetourt Co., Va., p.626 The "Mathias Grisso" spelling is that used in this census reading.

Source for Elizabeth’s birth and the marriage of her parents is "A History of the Lutheran Church in New Hanover, Pennsylvania" by Rev. John Jacob Kline.

Marriage is recorded as "Matthias Gressow and Elisabeth Maurer".