Mystery Bitchenor on the "City of Rome."

[vivijune]

I'm so glad my family told me stories except the details are blurred but you've found them! I remember being told that those who left wrote letters home about how they suffered so much in the cold. Wisconsin did get mentioned but I thought my parents were talking about neighbors in Bournend who left Cranfield instead of actual family, so this really gives me a real place to start when I meet up and get help today.

It's poor site etiquette to write in caps so I'll just say, "Thank You."

PS. I just found Amos Bitchenor in the Ellis Island records for May 1908 fresh from his sea voyage on the "Baltic."

[bedfordshire boy]

And here's another spelling variation for your collection - BISHNER

1900 census Walworth Wisconsin
Thomas Bishner head marr age 47 b Jun 1852 Married 23 years Immigrated 1880, 20 years in USA. b England, parents b England. Farmer
Alta Bishner wife age 48 b Jan 1852, 0 children, immigrated 1880 b England, parents b England

on the next page, which may be a complete red herring, but I don't believe in coincidences
Frederick Hailey head 43 b Sept 1856 Married 19 yrs Immigrated 1874. b England, parents b England. Farmer
Emma E Hailey wife 44 b Oct 1855 b Wisconsin father b England Mother b New York. 0 children
George Praemar?? father in law 76 b Aug 1823 married 20 years b New York both parents b NY
Catherine Praemar?? mother in law 75 b Aug 1824 b NY both parents b NY. 5 children 3 living
John Hailey nephew 25 b Nov 1875 Single. b England both parents b England. Immigrated 1875 In US 25 years

A Frederick Elijah Hailey was baptised in Cranfield on 26 Oct 1856, son of James and Susanna. He looks to have been the first to emigrate with other Haileys following over the next 5 years

It seems as though this Bitchener line fizzled out in Wisconsin

David

[vivijune]

Wow. I've got branches confirmed I didn't know about including the southern hemesphere and all in one morning!Certainly seems like this American Bishner (new spelling variant)  fizzled but I can't believe the progress you've made. It's been such a help. Just leaving to go and have my lesson on ancestry research so it all hinges on Amos and the Mystery Man whoever he is to carry on that Bitchenor thread in the US. By the way did you google the town where they lived? Fred certainly chose the right spot- Lake Geneva on the Illinois/Wisconsin border is beautiful- rolling hills, that big lake and land to farm.

[vivijune]

Bedfordshire Boy, I hope you're sitting down. I promise you can dine out on this one!

Just a reminder, how you helped me a couple of weeks ago, track down my great great grandmother Harriet (Flute), born 1828, she later married a Fensome and I was delighted to have Astwood Fensomes in my tree as her second family. So I set aside the Flute/Fensomes because I'd finished with my mother's side of the family and I started on my dad's, the Bitchenors.

But guess where I found Amos Bitchenor once he got to the U.S.? Yes, living in Walworth, Wisconsin near the Haileys and his brother Thomas. In the 1920 census he was Bishner, not Bitchenor and Biskner by 1930, married with a child. But guess who he was living with in 1920? He was staying in Walworth County with his sister Martha Emily who had married before she left England and emigrated, and her husband was......Walter Fensome. Walter Fensome was my great grandmother Harriet's grandson.

What I've learned with my family is that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree wherever the tree happens to be....and if you don't like where the tree is standing you just move it.  Imagine my surprize when I pulled up the name Fensome in that same Wisconsin house.

[bedfordshire boy]

They certainly believed in staying close together!

Still haven't found who Frans was though! Of couse he may have been from another county.

[vivijune]

Yes David, they really must have liked each other. Yesterday's research was so funny. Here I am in California with a friend who's really proficient with the US ancestry.com. I'm writing down what she finds, she's the only one who can see the computer screen so she shouts out that she found Amos, I ask for head of household and tells me Walter Fensome. I just about fell off my chair. Definitely one for the memory bank.

The elusive Frans Bitchenor isn't in any American census any more than he shows up on the English ones. I figure I've got 2 ways to go. First, do you know if there's any way to sort by birth date? Like 1862-1864. If that isn't possible I may have to put him to one side until I have time to go though the male offspring of Richard's brothers. One stayed in Kempton and the other stayed in Biddenham.

Or I may have to assume as you say, he's incorrectly listed as English. Since there's a strong independent streak in my family we may descend back to a Bitchenor who was in Cromwells Army which was headquartered in Bedford for 2 years. Kempston is so close. Cromwell had a huge problem with the Levelers within the ranks and solved it by sending them all to serve in Ireland. I already found a Bitchenor in Cork.
Thanks again for your help..

[vivijune]

"Frans" Bitchenor sailed from Liverpool not Ireland according to the ship's manifest for the "City of Rome." to NY in May 1885.

Sorted by the recorded birth year (22yrs-1863) as well as 1862 and 64 there were no male matches that work out in any of those years for Bedfordshire variations on the last name who might have been recorded as Frans in error.

Found close variations on Bitchenor in the region of County Cork, Ireland including a Francis Bitchener married Anne Peterson in 1834 in the Diocese of Cork . Posted a new request on webchat. regarding Leveler Cromwellian soldiers who were sent to Ireland in the 1640's and stayed there. The name may originate in Ireland from one of those soldiers.

Sorts for under Frank in the UK and US were unsuccessful so the Mystery Man remains a mystery. Many thanks for all the help. Found out lots of valuable intriguing information in the process if I hadn't searched for "Frans."   

[Old Throstle]

I have been researching the Bitchenor family since 2003 but only joined RootsChat today. Just wondering if we share the same grandparents - William Bitchenor and Lillian Bradley?

[vivijune]

I think we do. Lovely to be back in touch with you, if it's you!