(Web-based readers will notice a considerable hiatus between the last issue in October 1986 and this issue. In part the delay was a matter of technology -- it is much easier to update a website than to write, photocopy, and mail a newsletter! )
The Copson Chronicle has been silent for too long! The editor has his excuses -- he moved to a new house that needed a lot of work, he traded in his old computer with all the Copson Chronicle files, business had him on the road, etc., etc.
But through all this silence, the Chronicle lived on in spirit and in the minds of subscribers. Mail continued to arrive. Subscribers kept asking about the next issue.
Meanwhile, much has happened in Copson history. Clare and David Brookes, descended in part from the Foleshill, Coventry Copsons, visited Chronicle headquarters in Virginia during the hot summer of 1988, and then toured much of the East Coast of the US, meeting other long-lost relatives. Editor Ray Copson got to Hong Kong by something of a fluke and met Robert W. Copson and Linda Copson. Bob told the Chronicle of a Copson in Burma -- and we now have another in Senegal.
In short, the Copsons go from strength to strength, or at least from place to place, and they need their Chronicle.
The Chronicle editor and his family were able to visit Coventry in a lightning tour at the end of March 1989. One fascinating stop was the homesite of Thomas Copson and Ann Wiberly, 19th century progenitors of many living Copsons and relatives because they had six children: Hannah, Elisa, David, William Henry, Elizabeth, and Thomas. Thomas and Ann lived on the edge of Foleshill at Rowley's Green -- just down the road from the bone mills and across from Bedlam Lane.
They were members of the nearby Salem Baptist Church, as were the Rollason family. Copsons and Rollasons came to America together, and one couple, Thomas Copson and Julia Rollason, married here -- making the Chronicle possible, all unbeknownst to them.
Unfortunately, the Copson homestead has just been knocked down for a bypass, but it was still possible in 1989 to collect bits of ancestral pottery and bricks around the site. Other historic places, including Salem Baptist, the Rollason house, and St. Laurence parish church, where many Copsons were baptized and married, are still to be seen.
The Chronicle has received a letter from David R.K. Ward of Dorset, who had Copsons on his grandmother's side. But his great grandmother Elizabeth spelled her name Cobson or sometimes Copsall. Imagine! She was born at Smeeton on October 5, 1806, and had seven brothers and sisters. David has traced this line back through William Cobson and Elizabeth Hedsely (or Edsely) to Thomas Copson of Hilmorton, Warwickshire and Priscilla Howkins of Guilsborough, Northamptonshire, who received a marriage license on November 30, 1739. A photocopy of David's report on all of this, giving many names, dates, and places, is available from the Chronicle. (David's address in 1989 was 17 Merley Drive, Highcliffe, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 5BN, England.)
Here at last is the official Midlands tea recipe from Joy and Steve Kinzett of Coventry. It was conveyed by Steve from Coventry, the motor city of Britain, to Detroit, the motor city of the U.S., on a business trip a few years back -- but it didn't stick.
First, boil the freshly drawn water. Warm the tea pot with hot water. (Americans never do this -- ed.) Put a caddy spoon
or tea bag for each person in the pot. Pour on the boiling water while it is still bubbling -- don't let it go off the boil. Close lid, cover pot with cosy, and allow three minutes for the tea to "mash." Pour a little milk or lemon in cups. Pour on lovely, hot tea. Sugar to taste, if required.
Sounds simple enough, but how many overseas Copsons take this much care?
Incidentally, Joy's use of the word "mash" conveys a nice bit of tradition. This is an Old English word, going back at least to the year 1000, and was historically the preferred way of saying "brew" in the Midlands. See the Oxford English Dictionary and Martyn Wakelin's Discovering English Dialects (1978, Shire Publications).
This recipe makes the Chronicle staff remember the marvelous tea served by Jane Brookes in Coventry in late March 1989. Here's what she served, as best we can remember:
The staff much appreciated this light snack before toddling off to bed.
Clare and David Brookes of Coventry, descendants of William Henry Copson, visited Chronicle editor Ray Copson and his family in the United States during the summer of 1988. Ray is a descendant of Thomas Copson, William Henry's brother.
America rolled out its highest temperatures in years, 100 degrees plus, for Clare and David, but they soldiered bravely on. Sights seen included Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home; all the major museums and monuments in Washington; fireworks on the Mall on the 4th of July; Williamsburg, Virginia's restored first capital; the New Jersey Turnpike; the Connecticut Turnpike; and the Massachusetts Turnpike. All these turnpikes brought the tour to Hokanum (an Indian word), Massachusetts, for a festive visit with the Ritter and Buckhout families, close relatives, friends, and allies of Copsons. (Later, the Buckhouts visited the Brookes family in England.) Lois Copson Eash and her family came down from Sherman Mills, Maine, to meet the English visitors.
After Hokanum, it was on to Easthampton, where Thomas Copson lived (and died), after emigrating from Foleshill; and then Lowell, an old mill and factory town to try to get an impressions of what it was like when the Copsons and Rollasons first came to the area.
Next, the tour went to Plymouth Plantation, the restored original English settlement in America, where the actors all speak with the accents of old England. Clare said it was the first time that she had been able to understand anyone in two weeks. On to Cape Cod and a boat trip out to see the whales. Many, many whales. Then it was more turnpikes and interstate highways down to New York City to measure the effects of heat and air pollution on English complexions. Not good. The Statue of Liberty gave a breath of fresh air, but a rapid stroll around Times Square (don't read those pamphlets!) convinced the visitors that it was time to get home. And so back to Washington, and the plane back to England for Clare and David. Chronicle staff misses them and hopes to see them back here again.
Hong Kong. This soon-to-be ex-British colony has been rocked by anti-Chinese demonstrations recently, but Bob and Linda Copson and their children were not affected. Instead, they had decamped to Cornwall some months before.
Bob had been in the Royal Navy, but was training the Hong Kong merchant marine before leaving. He and Linda graciously entertained a reporter from the Copson Chronicle at the China Fleet Club, on Victoria Island - just across the water from Kowloon - in 1988. They were planning to open a small business in one of Britain's most scenic areas when last interviewed. Bob's roots are in West Bromfield.
Djourbel, Senegal. Djourbel and other cities in this former French colony have been rocked by anti-Mauritanian riots, with many killed, but Marjorie Copson was not affected. Instead, she returned to Yassie Village to continue her efforts to bring a new well, a millet grinding machine, and trees to 600 wonderful people who are facing the onward march of the desert.
Marjorie, who is a volunteer with the America Peace Corps, is the only Wolof-speaking Copson, as far as is known. Her French is pretty good too!
Tile Hill, Coventry. Nathaniel Horace Copson died in Coventry on May 31, 1987. Nathaniel was the father of Joy Kinzett, and helped get the Chronicle started by passing on an early circular to Joy.
New Castle, Pennsylvania. Richard D. Copson, who has been working as a teacher in Italy, was back in the United States during 1988, and the Chronicle regrets not interviewing him. Richard's father, Donald F. Copson, was himself a teacher of social studies and problems of democracy for 38 years at New Castle High School.
Donald was a frequent contributor to the opinion columns in the press, and his letters, which Richard has preserved, reveal firm opinions on world affairs. Once again, that Copson interest in international relations crops up. In 1977, Donald wrote in favor of a new national anthem for the United States that would reflect the growing desire for world brotherhood rather than "intense nationalism or imperialism."
Richard Copson is a cousin of Bruce Copson, the boxing trainer in Belfast, Maine, who was featured in an earlier Chronicle. Richard himself once had an interest in boxing and trained in downtown Washington. Query: are Bruce and Richard related to the boxing Copsons of Philadelphia?