Jim1 - I seem to have made some progress and it appears that my Fitzers may originally have been from Worcester too. There's a link with Anthony Fitzer to Astley what's confusing though is that he appears to be the only one in the family who's surname is Fitzer it's Fitzer alias Anthonis and his other siblings and father are Anthonis. Within the Astley records there are various spellings of Fitzer and Anthonis and there a number of "Anthonis als Fitzer" and "Fitzer als Anthonis".
I am trying to find out why the alias is used. Sometimes it was when a mother married for a 2nd time the child wished to maintain it's link with his father. This is not the case here as his parents are the same as his siblings. Another reason is where there is land ownership and they wish to maintain the rights to that land. If this is the case it's strange that his father is Anthonis. I need to do some more digging and check FindMyPast when I can get access to it, as can't seem to find anything on Ancestry. It at a glance appears that his paternal Grandfather was Thomas Fitzer als Anthonis, so the Fitzer first again, however this was just a record I found via a google search. I am wondering if any of your relatives may also be using an alias.
