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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.
This is a final blog post test prior to migrating email distribution lists to the blog distribution list. Could those people who were on the 11 January Zoom call please try to post a short blog to make sure that it works easily? Go to the blog page, and the first blog gives a link to where you can do your blog. Perhaps just explain one of your brick walls in your Becket(t)/Bicket(t)/Bichan research. If it is too complicated, please let me know how it can be improved.
My blog post is about work I have been doing on the Bichan branch of the Ayrshire Becket(t)/Bicket(t)/Bichan tree. I wrote a short article about it for the Journal of One-Name Studies, and you can read it here. I’ve also written a draft paper on the origin of the Bichan surname, which you can read here.
We will have a Zoom call of anyone interested in the Becket(t)/Bicket(t)/Bichan one-name study on Saturday 11 January 2025 at 22:00 UK time. One topic to be covered will be the recent breakthroughs on the English Beckett tree. If you wish to join, let us know at bicket (at) one-name.org.
We have had some major breakthroughs with the English Beckett tree. We have been particularly lucky to learn that there were two existing Beckett Big Y DNA testers who were part of a different project. Their earliest common ancestor is estimated by Family Tree DNA to have been born around 1050, effectively confirming the Norman origin theory for the English Beckett surname. For the details, see the status report at Origin of the English Beckett Surname Version of 2024 12 16.