Mr Solomon Banewer 1 was born in Vilnius,2 Lithuania--then part of the Russian Empire--on 10 April 1870. Other details about his early life are unknown.
Banewer first arrived in the USA, via Liverpool, in June 1889 and he settled in Boston, Massachusetts. He became a naturalised citizen on 13 May 1896, his address at the time being listed as 136 Merrimac Street, Boston. When he appeared on the 1900 census he was a prisoner in the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston but the nature of his crime is unknown.
With the intention of travelling abroad for a two year period, perhaps to see family back in Lithuania, Banewer applied for a US passport in December 1902, his address at the time being given as 1704 Washington Street, Boston and he was described as a merchant. Physically he was described as standing at 5' 8" with brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a fair complexion, a round face with a high and broad forehead, a square chin and a straight and broad nose. His trip abroad did not last the full two years and he returned to the US aboard New York on 21 August 1904.
Banewer returned to Europe for another visit although when is not clear but by April 1912 he had been residing in London for an unknown period of time. On 10 April, his birthday, he boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger (ticket number 211535 which cost £13).
Solomon Banewer was lost in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
On 25 May 1912 a man named Abram Banewer (b. 1875), a merchant, boarded the Philadelphia at Southampton; was Abram perhaps a younger sibling hastening across the Atlantic to settle his late brother's estate?
I have found another tidbit on this elusive man, and was hoping possibly others could take this further. Here it is: Solomon BONEMUR (yup another spelling) age 34 (in keeping with the 1870 birthdate) sailing from , you guessed it Southampton... aboard the SS. New York on the 13th of August 1904. He is a US citizen...but unfortunately nothing else is revealed. The spelling throws me as I was thinking Bowenur could easily have been Boenner and with correct pronunciation could lead a British immigrations person to write Bowenur. But Bonemur baffles me. Im thinking it might be of a french...
James Bianco. You are an asset to the Titanic community. Welcome aboard. Straying off on an unrelated topic momentarily... I attempted to send you a private email regarding a little fun (and ongoing) research I'm doing on your grandmothers cousin's wife's family, which could mean a research trip back to Goldfield Nevada for me,() but you do not have an email addy listed. Could you get in touch with me, when you have the chance?
Hello Colleen, I can be reached at . What sort of research are you working on? My cousin Phillip Brady would probably be most helpful, if I could find his current email addy, he is the great grandson of Alfred V. and Margaret Emerson, or perhaps you are researching Ellen French? Jim
James. It is Margaret Emerson! Email is on the way!