A standard post.
Good news from WikiTree this week! PANB [Provincial Archives of New Brunswick] vital stats are now supported by the “Sourcer Extension”, so you no longer have to use the “Citation Assistant” for records not yet available on FS or Ancestry – or when you prefer to cite original sources. This saves 5 to 10 minutes per record. For a full list of supported sites: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WikiTree_Sourcer_supported_sites
The next Zoom call for our one-name study will be on Saturday 30 August 2025 (Sunday 31 August in Australia and New Zealand) at the following times:
– UK: 10pm (22:00 on Saturday)
– US East Coast: 5pm (17:00 on Saturday)
– Australia Sydney: 7am (07:00 on Sunday)
Please let me know if you wish to participate, and I will send you the call details.
David Bicket
dpbicket (at) btinternet.com
A new paper has been published, on the origin of the Ayrshire Bicket(t)/Becket(t) surname. It is available on the Becket(t)/Bicket(t)/Bichan One-Name Study website, or directly at https://bicket.one-name.blog/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Origin-of-the-Ayrshire-Bickett-Beckett-Surname-Version-of-2025-07-06.pdf.
There is now an updated version of the document on the origin of the Bichan surname. It is available on the website, or directly at Origin of the Bichan Surname Version of 2025 06 07. It now includes information from Gregor Lamb’s 2003 book on Orkney Family Names. Thank you to Kay Morgan (nee Bichan) for this!
The link below is to a “Free For All Forever” Legacy Seminar titled “How to Harness the Power of FamilySearch’s Full-Text Search”. It is a high-quality professional demo by Julia A. Anderson of FamilySearch, which I recommend you watch and explore.
I have poked around a bit over the past few months, with some great results. This demystifies and simplifies the process. Even the question sessions at the end are very helpful.
Note: You should only have to click on the “Play” arrow to launch the tutorial. Apparently, you don’t need to log in or join to watch, or to download the syllabus from the small icon beside “Syllabus”.
Secrets for Success: How to Harness the Power of FamilySearch’s Full-Text Search
Submitted by Jim Beckett (J branch)
Recent yDNA test results at the Bicket Group of One-Name Studies have established that Hugh, 9MWD-FC1 son of James Bichet & Agnes Reyburn, born 1759, is not the spouse of Mary Tweedale.
The descendants of Hugh and Mary Tweedale are collectively the “J Branch” and are somewhat related to the “E” and “T” Branches of Fenwick and Paisley.
The Kilmarnock descendants of John Bichet and Barbara Muir are closely matched as the “G’, “P’, and “Z” Branches.
Records have not been found for Hugh’s marriage to Mary Tweedale. Birth records for nine of their children in Paisley, Renfrewshire, are attached to his Profile. Their sons, John and James relocated to Asphodel and Otonabee, Ontario, Canada in 1820 and were joined there by a sister, Jean/Jane (Bicket) Steel. Next door to James was Hugh Francis Bicket [“E” Branch] who is not specifically identified, but yDNA tests affirm he is somehow related. The mother of Hugh Francis, Jean (Morton) Borland, and her family are located a few lots away.
A prior effort to attach Hugh as the son of David Bicket (‘T’ Branch) and Margaret Watt in Fenwick has also been rendered unlikely based on yDNA results.
The Bichan origin document has been updated, to reflect obtaining further details from the book ‘Orkney Surnames’. See https://bicket.one-name.blog/wp/origins-of-becket-beckett-bicket-bickett-bichan-surnames
We deeply regret to say that Don Beckett, genealogist of the Fn branch, has passed away at 98 years of age. He was a very special person, in all respects. His son Doug has given us a link to his obituary: https://www.tubmanfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/donald-beckett, and you can leave guestbook comments there if you wish.
Don gave a presentation on his branch at the Kilmarnock reunion in August 2023. Here is a link to it for those who would like to remember: https://bicket.one-name.blog/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Fn-Branch-Donald-Clifford-Beckett.mp4
The Bichan Surname Origin Document has been updated. You can access the updated copy at Origin of the Bichan Surname Draft of 2025 02 06.
This is also a test posting using notification type 1. Please let me know if you have any problems receiving it, e.g., if it goes into your spam folder.
David Bicket
I have been on a multi-year journey to verify with paper evidence, as required by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), that Scotland is the birth country of my patriot ancestor William Thomas Bickett. The birth country was erroneously entered, without proper evidence, as Ireland. He married an Irish woman, Jane Hart. In the American Revolutionary War records, his name is listed as Beckett. In a 2023 trip to Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, I discovered a good amount of evidence reflecting that in fact, William was born in Ayrshire. This evidence is corroborated by the baptismal records found in the Scotlands People website archives. However, the name and dates corresponding to William Thomas Bickett in the Scotlands People records are correlated to the Bichet family name. There is no hard, written proof that the Bichet name is related to either the Bicket or Bickett names from modern times. In Marion County, Kentucky, William Thomas Bickett’s three sons’ last names engraved on their markers are Bicket, not Bickett. The search for any documentation, a family Bible (preferred by the DAR) is inconclusive. This particular challenge is common as the records span over periods of time when exact written evidence is challenging to achieve, if not altogether impossible. The search continues.