Copson Chronicle Highlights

From 1985 until 1990, the editor published The Copson Chronicle, devoted to uncovering the history of the name "Copson" and recording the histories of the people who have borne it. Over the next several months, highlights of the Chronicle will be re-issued on the World Wide Web.

Volume I, Numbers 1 and 2 (1985) follow. For subsequent issues, click below.

Volume I, Number 3, (January 1986) including Leicester, Copson Center; Fighting Copsons; and The Elastic Web.

Volume I, Number 4, (October 1986) including The Middle Eastern Branch, Letter from Coventry I, and Official Beer Designated.

June 15, 1989, including Roots Tour, letter from David Ward, Copson Cooking, Their American Cousin, and Copson Notes from All Over.

What's in a Name?

Little is known about the origins of the name "Copson." In the editor's family, it was generally believed that the name was somehow derived from "Cooper" -- an unlikely hypothesis.

But right in the center of England, near the intersection of Watling Street and the Fosse Way (two great Roman roads), is a village that shows on modern maps as Copston Magna. On an 1830 map, published by William West in The History, Topography, and Directory of Warwickshire, this same village is called Copson. Sean and Sylvia Copson, of Leicester, England, visiting Copston Magna in 1983, were told by the churchwarden of an old milestone reading "Copson."

Surely people who left this village to live and work in nearby towns were called by the name of their place of origin. Today, the world's greatest concentration of Copsons is still to be found in the surrounding area, particularly in Leicester, Coventry, and Nuneaton.

Copston Magna is very old. Sir William Dugdale, in Warwickshire, Being a Concise Description of the Different Towns and Villages (1817), said the place owes its name "to one Copst, a possessor of it in the time of the Saxons." But according to The Place Names of Warwickshire, published at Cambridge in 1936, the name is of Scandinavian origin, and "Copston" means "Copsi's Farm." Since this area was once occupied by Danes or "Vikings," the name would not have been unusual. Still a third possibility is that the name comes from "cop," which is Old English for hill.

So were the first Copsons Vikings or Saxons, or were they perhaps descended from the Roman soldiers who once marched through? No doubt all of these made a contribution to the Copson line.

Miss Mabel Frances Copson, of Leicester, has sent in a wonderful letter about the Copson homeland. According to Miss Copson, who is 93, the Fosse Way "passes through some of the most beautiful villages and scenery in England."

"Leicester and the County of Leicestershire are steeped in English history," she writes. "In AD 60, a great heroine, Queen Boadicea of the Iceni tribe, led a revolt of her tribespeople against the Roman army of occupation after she had been humiliated and her two daughters had been raped. She utterly destroyed Colchester, London, and St. Alban's, then set off along Watling Street to destroy the Roman supply base at Coventry. She was unfortunately defeated at the Battle of Mancetter, a small village about 20 miles from Leicester -- but left 70,000 Roman dead in her campaign."

Miss Copson describes a number of other historic sites around the Leicester area. American readers may be interested (or amazed) to learn that "Leicester" is pronounced "Lester."

Many Copsons who came to the United States were involved in the manufacture of textiles. Muriel Copson, of Lima, Pennsylvania -- a most excellent correspondent -- tells the story of one family's arrival not very long ago.

"Courtaulds in Coventry asked for volunteers to come out to Marcus Hook, PA, to help erect the first spinning machines to make rayon in this country. My father, Ernest David, and a few others volunteered. They arrived on July 4, 1910, and it was expected that the group would return to England after 8 months; but all decided that it was a challenge and elected to stay on. Courtaulds asked Mother if she would like to come out, bringing me, and if she did not enjoy the venture, Courtaulds would take care of our return.

"We arrived in August, 1911, together with the wife and children of one of the other men. Mother was not too impressed with Marcus Hook, having been accustomed to the old, well-established city of Coventry. (She was born in South Wales, near Cardiff.) And so we settled down to make the best of the situation."

Today, a number of Copsons and related families live in and around the Philadelphia/ Wilmington (Delaware) area. Muriel has a nephew who teaches Latin in the Philadelphia public schools.

Incidentally, Muriel's parents and editor Ray Copson's grandparents corresponded and met at least once. Muriel has a painting done by Ray's uncle, Norman; and Muriel's father had the same first name (Ernest) as Ray Copson's grandfather. But Muriel and Ray haven't figured out how they are related. They're working on it.

Muriel is retired after a career as an executive secretary and is pursuing her interest in music -- including piano, voice, and organ.

Copsons came to the United States throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. A particularly large colony was established at Manchester, New Hampshire. Manchester directories for 1892 and 1893 list Annie and Hattie, Charles J., Frederick (removed to Lawrence, Massachusetts), Sumner, William J., and William T. Such a large group must have had many descendants!

Several researchers, both in the United States and England, have been looking into the history of Copsons. Around Leicester, Sean and Sylvia Copson have examined local records and directories, visited churchyards, and interviewed villagers.

Sylvia and Sean conducted some of their research at a place with the wonderful name of Sheepy Magna (Great Sheepy), where there is a great deal of Copson history, including at least two gravestones.

Sylvia points out the value of records compiled by the Mormons, who have gone through the Midlands listing births, death, and marriages. This was a good tip for Ray Copson, who had sent away to the state of Massachusetts for his great-grandfather Copson's death certificate. The certificate said that Thomas H. Copson's parents were Thomas Copson and Ann Weberly. Lo and behold, on a copy of a Mormon list that Sylvia had sent over, the marriage of this couple was listed as June 22, 1829, at St. Lawrence Church, Foleshill (near Coventry).

Out in Newhall, California, meanwhile, Don Bird has been tracing his ancestry through a large Copson colony in Scranton, Pennsylvania, back to Frederick Copson, a weaver, born in Nottingham, England, in 1864 -- and even further, to Samuel Copson, born in 1782. Some of the names in Don's family are close to those in that New Hampshire colony mentioned earlier. Also, the middle name "Hayes" keeps appearing among Don's Copsons, and this was the middle name of Ray Copson's great grandfather, Ernest.

In North Quincy, Massachusetts, Paul Copson has done a lot of work on ship arrivals at Boston in the 1880s and 1890s. Many Copsons were on board. And in Brigantine, New Jersey, Al Copson has been corresponding with a number of U.S. Copsons. He promises the Chronicle some stories on Copsons in the South and on some Copson boxers.

The industrialization of the United States was greatly facilitated by the tremendous infusion of British capital and British technical know-how during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Copsons originated in the English Midlands, center of the industrial revolution, and played their role in this process of "technology transfer."

Of course, Copsons who came to the United States might follow any occupation. Chicago city directories for the 1860s, for example, list James Copson as "saloonkeeper" on Indiana Avenue.

But many Copsons were probably involved in the principal occupations of English immigrants: textile weaving, mining, or iron and steel working. A good book to read on this subject is Rowland Berthoff's British Immigrants in Industrial America (1953 and 1968). Berthoff notes a consistent pattern of British immigrants coming to fill skilled positions in these industries, then being forced to move on, or up, as new machinery made it possible for employers to hire less-skilled workers. Moving on usually wasn't too difficult, since British immigrants easily adapted into American society.

Copsons of the New England states and the Philadelphia area seem to be descended primarily from textile weavers. But Copson weavers often had unusual specialties, such as elastic webbing or ribbon and silk weaving, that were characteristic of Leicester, Nuneaton, Coventry, and Nottingham. William H. Copson was listed as a silkweaver in the 1869 Hartford, Connecticut directory, and William F. Copson of Leicester set up elastic webbing looms in Lowell, Massachusetts after the American Civil War.

A number of Copsons live today around Scranton, Pennsylvania -- heart of the 19th Century American coal industry. Are they descended from Midlands miners, possibly from Nuneaton? And what of the Western Copsons in the United States? Are they heirs to miners, machinists, or possibly James the saloonkeeper?

The Chronicle would like to learn more about these Copsons.

Copsons worldwide will be shocked to learn of the forcible transportation of John William Copson to Australia. This injustice had a most excellent result, however, since it gave rise to a thriving group of Copsons and Copson descendants "down under."

According to Nick Hollingworth, or Tullamarine, Victoria, Australia, John William -- his great-great-grandfather -- was convicted at Newgate (London) on May 25, 1830 for stealing linen. John William was sentenced to seven years transportation and arrived in Australia on July 27, 1831. Nick has information that John William was born in Nuneaton about 1801 and was a shoemaker. He would very much like to make contact with someone in England who could look into the details. The many other Copsons in Australia would appreciate this help too.

John William, despite the hardships of his youth, lived until 1889. (Is there a gene for longevity among Copsons?)

Nick promises to contribute some information on John William's Australian family. Readers will be looking foreword to this. It would be interesting to know whether all Australian Copsons are descended from this long-lived Englishman.

In Coventry

During the days of the English civil wars (1640-1660, captured Royalist soldiers did not want to be "sent to Coventry" because the town so strongly supported Parliament. Even today, to be "sent to Coventry" or to be "in Coventry" are synonyms for punishment in England.

Copsons, however, have a different idea about Coventry, which is central to Copson history. Indeed, in 1724, one Caleb Copson was mayor of this ancient town. The diary of another mayor, who served in 1655, refers to William Copson as a sort of constable. On December 14, 1665, William served a warrant on Goody Robinson for cursing, and on February 7, 1656, he informed against Smith the barber, who had "trymed" on Sunday. (This diary was published in a volume entitled Miscellany I by the Dugdale Society of Stratford-on-Avon.)

Editor Ray Copson and Muriel Copson of Pennsylvania would like to know more about William, Rose, and Emily Copson who were living in Coventry in the early 1950s. Muriel and Ray believe they may be related through these "cousins," but haven't yet found the connection.

Meanwhile, the Chronicle is fortunate to have two new subscribers in Coventry -- Nathaniel Horace Copson (age 85) and his daughter, Mrs. Joy Krozett. Nathaniel has traced his own line back to Caleb, the mayor. Joy reports that the male Copsons in this family were all given biblical names, and that her grandfather, also Nathaniel, was a ribbon manufacturer at R.S. Cox on King Street. Joy's great-grandfather Abraham was in textiles, and another Nathaniel, a great uncle, was a Coventry councilor.

Ribbon, incidentally, is a major product of Coventry, which was also once known for its watches and a thread called "Coventry blue." Its great cathedral, where many Copsons must have worshipped, was destroyed in the massive German bombing raids on the moonlit night of November 14-15, 1940. Today, a renowned new cathedral of modern design has arisen in Coventry. An authority on cathedrals has favorably contrasted Coventry's choice of this modern design with the decisions of Americans to raise a 15th Century gothic cathedral in Washington, a city that is less than 200 years old.

Coventry, now known as a key city in the history of Copsons, was also once the home of Lady Godiva and her husband Leofric. This 11th Century couple was fortunate in their neighbors.

Out in California, retired mechanical engineer Harry Copson has been making some progress in tracing his ancestry. Little was known of Harry's Copson grandfather, who died when Harry's father, George, was a child. But using various sources, including some copies of pages from old Kansas City, Missouri directories sent along by the Chronicle research staff, Harry is now virtually certain that he is descended from Henry and Dora Copson, who were living in Kansas City in the 1870s.

There is a legend in Harry's family that Henry Copson, or possibly his father, had been in France and came to the United States by way of Quebec. Could this ancestor have been a soldier against Napoleon, granted land in Canada after the wars? It wasn't at all unusual for settlers in Canada to tire of hacking farms out of the forest and cross the border. Towns and cities in the United States were older and larger, so English settlers could more easily use their industrial skills.

At last word, Harry was contacting Fred Copson, of Mission, Kansas -- another subscriber -- to see if there is a connection. Harry's son Gary is a graduate architect and president of a land development corporation, while younger son Steve, with degrees in biology and business administration, is vice president of a company in Clifton, Nevada. Harry himself has been instrumental in the design of several refineries and nuclear power plants.

Last updated, January 7, 2000