The only work published in this country respecting the Edsons of New England and their extraction was printed in Lowell, Mass., in 1864, and entitled.4 Genealogical Account of the Edsons Early Settled in Bridgewater, with Appendices. This contribution of valuable memorabilia is a summary of traditions and facts compiled successively by Captain Josiah Edson (1682-1762), Elijah Hayward (his great-grandson), the Rev. Theodore Edson, S.T.D., and John Edson (his brother), and Xahum Mitchell (author of the History of the Early Settlement of Bridgewater).<br><br>The conclusions advanced in the initial paragraph and the two footnotes on the third page of the pamphlet regarding the name Edson being "a contraction from a word of three or more syllables," and the improbability of finding a native of England bearing it as a surname, were generally accepted, until recently, as determining the uselessness of all further attempts to ascertain anything to the contrary.