Bedson

New page 16 October 2014.

The Bedson family was from Staffordshire - I only have a couple of generations so far, so there isn't much to say overall.

The generations of the BEDSON line are:

6. John (prob b abt 1803 and d abt 1860) and Mary (b about 1805, d after 1871) of Shelton in Staffordshire. More

5. Ellen (1838-1891) who married Hiram Henry SHAW. More

Further details

6. John (prob b abt 1803 and d abt 1860) and Mary (b about 1805, d after 1871) BEDSON

John BEDSON was born (probably about 1803) in Standon in Staffordshire. He was a carpenter (in the prime of his life a master carpenter employing 4 men, and described by his daughters as a builder, or builder and joiner). Sometime before 1838 he married Mary, who had been born about 1805 in Hanley (or Shelton), near Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire.

They lived on Hope Street, Shelton, and had four known daughters:
Ellen about 1838
Anne Jane about 1839
Sarah Ann about 1841
Myra about 1846
The family also had a young servant girl – just 10 in 1841, and a different girl of 14 in 1851.

John was alive in 1851, may have been alive when his daughter Ellen married in 1858, but he had died by 1861.

In that year, Mary appeared as a widow in the 1861 census. She was living at 2 Hope Street, Shelton, with three of her daughters. Anne Jane was not with them (and I can’t find her on thegenealogist.com – most likely mis-transcribed or evaded enumeration, but conceivably a first marriage), but Ellen was, though she had married by then and had a young son of her own. Ellen’s husband Hiram was away as a travelling woollen draper. Sarah Ann was bringing in money as a dressmaker, and Ellen had been (or still was but claimed not to be as she was married). Myra helped out at home. The family also had a lodger, an elderly widower. No servant – it all suggests that they had to make considerable adjustments to the household economy when John died. In 1865 Anne also married, and by 1871 Mary and Myra had moved with her south to Dorset, to East Lulworth, to live with her and her husband Thomas DONNELLY, and Ellen’s four children. Ellen and Hiram were lodging elsewhere on census night, on their commercial travels, but presumably stayed with the rest of the family some of the time. Thomas was a schoolmaster and organist; Myra was also a schoolmistress.

For Ellen see below; for Myra see also the page of Hiram Henry SHAW, who may have known them both from a young age, as he also lived near Hope Street. I don’t know what became of Sarah.

Research notes: we might catch John and Mary’s marriage at the start of civil registration, but I guess not. Could look in IGI or FreeBMD for the births/christenings of the daughters (and any other children who might show up). Also need John’s death. And then at the end after 1871 we need Mary’s death and/or later censuses. Most likely death as she would have passed 70 halfway through the decade, but do check the DONNELLYs in 1891.

5. Ellen BEDSON (1838-1891)

Ellen BEDSON worked as a dressmaker as a young woman. In 1859 she married Hiram SHAW in Cheadle in Staffordshire. See their page together for her married life.

Contact me

If you are interested in this line I'll be very pleased indeed to hear from you. Email me at deletethis.ianwilliamson161@gmail.com though obviously you edit the email address before you send - leaving just my name and number @ service provider.

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