Visiting Bitners

The photo below (Figure 57) was taken about 1923. At the left center of the back row are half sisters Minnie Mary Sechrist Bitner and Matilda Sechrist Faust. They are surrounded by some of their daughters with grandchildren in front. The Faust's were visiting in Snyder County at the time. Another photo (see page 159) shows the two sisters sitting on the Bitner coal barge, which the family operated on the Susquehanna River.

The photo of the people sitting on rocks (Figure 58) was taken at Devil's Den at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania about 1925. Gettysburg would have been an easy day trip from Northumberland and Snyder County. A copy of this photo was in both the Christian and Adam Bitner family collection. Apparently Adam Bitner, the older gentleman on the right, was visiting the family in Pennsylvania from his home in Illinois. Ora Faust, from Ohio, was there too, along with Harvey Bitner. We're not sure who the woman sitting at the extreme left is. She looks very similar to another photo that was labeled "George Bitner's wife". Perhaps George Bitner from Ohio, son of Casper, was along with his wife. He might have been the person taking the photo. The rest of the people are Frank Bitner's family.

Another photo (Figure 59) - including only Adam Bitner and Ora Faust - appears to have been taken during the same visit. The photo was taken on the porch of a house in Northumberland that was owned by Jacob H. Sechrist, a son of William and Elmira Sechrist. The house number is 553 King Street, where the Sechrists resided in 1920 and 1930. Figure 61 shows the house as it exists today.

The next photo (Figure 60) is of Harvey Bitner visiting Adam Bitner at his farm in Jackson County, Illinois, probably in the early 1930s. We have no indication whether Harvey was accompanied by his wife or anybody else. He would have been married during that time.

The photo below (Figure 62) was taken on the porch of the house of Filmore Bitner, son of Adam. It includes Bitner relatives from Ohio and Pennsylvania. The photograph was not dated. Since Adam is not included, I initially thought that this was taken at the time of his funeral in June 1936. But most of the men would not have been as old as they seem to be in the photo. Based on the dates the people in the photo died, it could have been taken at any time before 1949. If the Faust man is actually Ora rather than John, then the latest date would be 1952.

The photo in Figure 63 was obtained from a descendant of Frank and Minnie Bitner. Based on the ages of the few people that have been identified, we believe the photo must have been taken about 1908 - 1909. Minnie Bitner is the woman at the far left of the back row in the (only) black dress. Her husband, Frank Bitner is the man at the far left of the front row with the short tie. Given the assumed date of the photo, Frank could be holding his son Lee Bitner, who was born in 1907. The man at the far right of the back row in the dark suit looks very similar, so it could be Frank's only brother, Harry Bitner. Bessie Bitner was identified by her daughter as the woman in the back row feeding her future husband, Grant Miller.

We originally thought that this photo could have been taken at the same time as the 17th birthday party for Bessie Bitner, described below. We thought that Bessie and Grant might be the young couple in the front row. However, the number of people in the photo does not seem to match the family groups listed in the article about the party. One other person identified by his distinctive appearance is Charles Sechrist. He is the big man seated in the second row just below Minnie Bitner. It is possible that this is a family reunion of both the Bitner and Sechrist family.