WAIDSONS from Welshpool before 1850
by alan cookson (IGER-WP)
Hi, I am new to this list and would really appreciate it if anyone
can supply me with any information at all to do with this surname in the
County. It remains something of a puzzle to me as there seem to be so few of
them around. It looks like it is was originally a corruption of WADESON
possibly from Yorkshire. They have never been abundant anywhere and always
seemed to move around! I have a WAIDSON in my main COOKSON line.
Hannah WAIDSON appears to have come from Welshpool but there are no records
of her baptism. Hannah married my gt gt gt grandfather Samuel COOKSON a
shoemaker at St Chads in Shrewsbury in 1817. She was living in the same
parish as Samuel when they were wed. She died aged 35 in 1825. I suspect she
had a brother, John WAIDSON who was a well known printer in the town of
Welshpool. He may have married Charlotte Cross a widow in 1807 There was a
John Waidson from Welshpool as a witness to Samuel COOKSON'S second marriage
in 1826, 13 months after Hannah died. John may have been the son of Samuel
WAIDSON another printer from Welshpool. He may have come from Shropshire as
one Samuel WAIDSON was baptised in Ludlow 9/1/1751. This seems likely as his
parents names coincidentally were John an Hannah! It doesn't look like the
family lived in the area prior to about 1780? The only real references to
them are in Trades Directories as printers. John later moved to Montgomery
around 1850. There was also a John WAIDSON who was the Governer of the
workhouse in Bishop's Castle. There were only a few others in the area at
that time. George Adolphus WAIDSON ended up in Berriew and Christina WAIDSON
much later from Montgomery. There appear to be so few of them. Other
families I have in my tree went on to have up to 18 children. None of the
WAIDSONS I have come across had more than two.
Alan Cookson