Educated Truro Grammar School. Read good literature and wrote his letters in good English. Worked on a farm called Pellor and in a shipping office in London. John Glasson knew that marriage in Cornwall lead to misery and poverty unless the wife was wealthy, so he took the chance and, in 1829, he became the first of the Glassons to emigrate. He sailed on the Australia from Gravesend on 23-4 Nov 1829, and arrived in Sydney on 21 April 1830. He carried letter of introduction to George Allen solicitor in Sydney. (GA was the first solicitor admitted by NSW Supreme Court, and was a fellow Methodist.) JG married George Allen’s family governess.

JG is said to have found copper on his NSW property.

On 10 November 1829 he wrote Before I left Falmouth I wrote Uncle Robert taking farewell of him, and warning him against drinking, and when I got there I received an answer expressed in affectionate terms. He says he is like poor uncle Henry, sees the good and approves it, condemns the bad, but often pursues it. Uncle Robert, however, tells me that he shall often read my letter, and that he is determined to be on guard in future. [It is said that Robert was an alcoholic.]

[Mary Glasson The Glasson Saga 1980.]

John Rule says:
John Glasson … was strongly built and five feet eleven inches tall. He was a strict Methodist, supporting Parson Tom in the belief that only Wesleyans would get to Heaven. Glasson’s calm manner and sincerity quickly gained the respect of all that met him. He was also a calculating, but honest, businessman who seldom made a decision without first referring to a Higher Authority.

John Glasson’s 640 acre grant was approved on 1st November 1830. It is debatable whether Glasson was successful in his first short year of operation. He was more than satisfied to show a one pound profit from his first wool clip. During his second season, profit increased to 27/6d.

Glasson’s first home was of wattle and daub construction and he named it Newton. During 1842, Bookanan became its replacement; a small building assembled from rough undressed rubble covered with creamish plaster. Before long, a separate portion was built nearby. By 1849, a two-storey Georgian style construction linked the earlier stages to form a U shaped dwelling. Each of Bookanan’s three chimneys marks an independent development to Byng’s longest standing structure.

In 1857, Glasson, his wife and a son emigrated to Papakura, New Zealand. Glasson's wife had long suffered from asthma and the change of climate prolonged her ailing life a further four years. Glasson’s Linwood Estate consisted of 900 acres on which he grazed sheep and bullocks. One of New Zealand’s first exotic timber mills was built to handle eucalyptus trees grown by the Glassons for fencing and construction.   Link