Question

my mother in laws dad was lawerance frances gleason, he left when she was 3. washington state

Answer 1

You didn't include any timeframe - dates/approximate dates of b, m, or d.   You might try the free search tool at https://familysearch.org/search and plug in as much as you know.  Link below will bring you some examples and Lawrence Gleason's in WA.

https://familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3A%22lawrence%20f%22~%20%2Bsurname%3Agleason~%20%2Bany_place%3Awa~%20%2Bany_year%3A1900-1999~&gender=M

Answer 2

Unfortunately you don't provide much information BUT perhaps a connection exists in that my father Fred Treat GLEASON told me that he had GLEASON cousins living in or near SPOKANE. Washington.  If you have any MALE GLEASON relatives, you should encourage them to have Y-DNA testing done -- now days, it is very simple and dirt cheap!   If no MALE GLEASONs available, then I suggest that you have AUTOSONOMAL DNA testing done for only $99.00 through Family Tree DNA ("FTDNA") -- google FTDNA for more information and good luck!