Background

A shorter version of this article appears on the 'Scotland and the Flemish People' blog at the Universtiy of St Andrews.

The version on this page may be edited from time to time.  

INTRODUCTION

Research for the Frame DNA Project is focused on the time of established surnames. In the past, there have been many disparate views as to the origins of both the Frame surname and the clan. Two of the traditions passed down are that the Frames were ‘weavers from Flanders’ and that they had ‘fled religious persecution’. George Black (The Surnames of Scotland) made no attempt to define or classify Frame; instead, only listing several early individuals.  [i]   However, an image of an article titled Surnames in an edition of The Scottish Antiquary or Northern Notes and Queries [Vol. VIII, pp.76-77 (1886?)]  by A. W. Cornelius Hallen specifically mentions FRAME among the surnames common to England, Flanders and Scotland and thought to be of Flemish origin. See SCOTLAND page. As will be illustrated, the Scottish Fram/Frames, the English Freme/Freame/Frames and the French Fremault/Fremaux families share a surname etymology and similar family profiles.  Given their artisan skills, where they lived and who they associated with, a case can be made to support the tradition that the ancestors of these families were ‘Weavers from Flanders’- whether Flemish or Walloon.

DNA

Since 2006, Y-DNA testing has been utilised along with traditional research in an attempt to gain more insight into the Frame clan.  

At the time of writing, no participants with French surname variants have joined the Frame DNA Project; however, Y-DNA test results soon lent strong support to another family tradition - that ‘all Frames are related’.  Y-DNA proved that the majority of men in the Project, random testers from, or with ancestry traced to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, all share a common progenitor. DNA evidence suggests that some of these lines may have branched apart 800 or more years ago.  This group is classified as being Haplogroup I1, subclade I-L803. The SNP mutation L803 that defines them has thus far only been found in lines stemming from the United Kingdom but that may change over time with future testing:

Haplogroup I1 is the most common I subclade in northern Europe. It is found mostly in Scandinavia and Finland, where it typically represents over 35% of the male Y-chromosomes. Associated with the Norse ethnicity, I1 is found in all places invaded by ancient Germanic tribes and the Vikings. Other parts of Europe speaking Germanic languages come next in frequency. Germany, Austria, the Low Countries, England and the Scottish Lowlands all have between 10% and 20% of I1 lineages. [Eupedia].

SURNAME ETYMOLOGY

See: Surname Origins

The word ‘fram’ is Proto-Germanic - a preposition (from, by, due to) and an adverb (forth, forward, away, further).  The word ‘frame’ is a noun and a verb. ‘Fram’ was also used as a first name: Fræna / Fráni = Fram.  For example, Framland wapentake in Leicestershire was said to have its name derived from the Scandinavian personal name Fræna and lundr, meaning 'Fræna's grove' – with variants of the name including Frandone, Franelun, Franelund, Franland, Franlund and Framelund.  Note that the letters 'n' and ‘m’ were interchangeable during those early times, presenting a further complication for those researching the Frame surname.  Clearly,some families might have their surnames derived from a patronym, toponym or various nicknames; however, due to research into the possible Continental ancestral homeland of the British Frame/Freame clan, and the Y-DNA haplogroup designation of the largest project group (I1), which provides a reasonable geographical correlation, the Project presently favours Förstemann’s findings:  framea– spear. 

In his book, The Teutonic Name-System Applied to the Family Names of France, England, & Germany, [ii] Robert Ferguson writes that there are probably as many names taken from the weapons that warriors used than from all other sources put together. He includes the following details on Fram:

 Tacitus tells us that the Germans were generally armed with a short spear, adapted either for close or distant fighting, and which was called in their language framea. From this word, apparently allied to the Modern German pfriem,Förstemann derives the following ancient names, which are mostly Frankish.

FRAM. Spear.

SIMPLE FORMS

English:         FRAME, FREEM.       

French:         FRÉMY, FREMEAUX, FROMMÉ, FORME...  [iii]

With the French pronunciation emphasising the first syllable and the second syllable falling away, it is not difficult to envisage a gradual transmutation from the French variant Fremeaux to the anglicised Frame, Freme etc.

Based on this etymology, a search was made for examples of these surname variants (or possible spelling deviations), in relevant locations on the Continent.  In Britain, the surname first appears in England so a search was then made in English records for occurrences up to 1700. The following surnames either match, or are phonetically similar to, the French and English variants derived by Förstemann:

CONTINENTAL EUROPE 

Netherlands:   Fraam,Fraismet, Fram, Frame, Framey, Freem, Freeme, Frem, Frema, Fremau, Fremay, Fremaux, Fremeaux, Freem, Freeme, Fremme, Fremi, Fremmi, Fremou, Freummau, Frima, Froem, Fromeau, Fromi, Fromie, Fromy, Froumi, Froumy, Fruhm, Frummau, Frumo.   

Belgium:  Frahm, Frama, Frame, Freimaux, Fremau, Fremaux, Frémaux, Fremeaux, Frémiau, Fremi, Fremy, Friem, Fremie, Fremmy, Fromy, Froumy, Frumy.

France:  Frame, Fremault, Fremaux, Freme, Frème, Fremé, Frémé, Fremy.

Variations in Surnames found in England up to 1700 included:

ffram, Fraim, Fraime, Fram, Frame, Framm, Fream, Freame, Frem, Frema, Freham, Freeham, Freem, Freema, Freeme,  Freima,  Frieme, Fremau, Fremaux, Freme, Fremou, Fremow, Frewme, Freumau, Fremault, Fremaut, Frim, Frime, Fryam, Fryme, Frymhe, Froama, Froiam, Fromow, Froum, Froume, Frowme, Fryme. 

The Freme/Freame/Frame surname began to appear in England in the early 14th century during the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). For example, Walter Freme and Robert Freme were recorded at Wick and Nursteed in the Wiltshire Tax List of 1332. [v]

Edward III encouraged Flemish weavers to settle in England, promising that they would be amply supplied with wool and provided with ready markets for all the cloth they could manufacture.

'The Flemish cloth-workers, as they came over, had special districts assigned to them, with special liberties and privileges. They were planted all over England,—in London, in Kent, in Somerset, in Norfolk, in Nottinghamshire, in Yorkshire, in Lancashire, and as far north as Kendal in Westmoreland…

Other Flemings planted themselves in the West of England, and in course of time their fulling-mills were busily at work along the streams of Wiltshire, Somerset, and South Gloucester, where the manufacture of cloth still continues to flourish. Bath and Bristol also shared in the prosperity which followed the introduction of this new branch of trade...' [vi]

Frame/Freame/Freme families were found in almost all of those locations by 1700; however, the major expansion was in Gloucestershire, especially in the valleys around Stroud where there was easy access to high quality wool, abundant supplies of fuller’s earth and water of sufficient quantity to drive the mills. Nearby Bristol was an outlet for the finished product. Numerous small valley hamlets developed into towns serving the cloth industry.  Settlements such as Chalford, Nailsworth and Stroud developed from the later 14th century, spreading along the sides of the river valleys and clustering around the mills. In 1656,Thomas Freame, a cloth worker, had his fulling-mill at Nailsworth  [vii] and John (Jn.) Freame of Chalford was a clothier in 1662. [viii]   

The number of Freame/Freme etc. families working in the textile industry in Stroud and Bisley are too numerous to detail in this article; however, a map showing the distribution of the surname in Glouestershire follows:

As early as 1438, Richard Freme was a sheriff of Bristol and in 1441; Nicholas Freme was the mayor of Bristol. In 1452 John Freme was recorded as a merchant in Bristol:

'108: Licence for John Hill, one of the grooms of our chamber, and John Freme, merchant of Bristol, to send a ship or ships of 240 tuns to Aquitane with any except staple goods as often as they wish during the next sixteen months; since they have come to England to secure the ransom of £250 sterling demanded by the French to liberate themselves and four other captive Englishmen who still remain as pledges in the hands of the enemy.

                                                                         12th May, 1452 [ix]

The Freames of Nether Lypiatt, Gloucestershire were yeoman, woolproducers, merchants, clothiers, tailors, etc.  Robert Freame of Cirencester, Gloucestershire and London, was a wool comber, clothier and merchant. He was one of the first purchasers of Pennsylvania in 1681.  This branch of the family were Quakers and Robert had at least two sons among his children: Robert Jr. whose son Thomas married Margaret Penn, the daughter of William Penn who founded the Province of Pennsylvania, and another son, John Freame, a goldsmith who was later to establish the Freame & Gould bank that eventually became Barclay’s bank. Freme/Freame/Frame families flourished in Gloucestershire and there may be further indications of ‘Flemishness’ in Yorkshire where John Frame was a leading Admiralty shipbuilder in the late 17thand early 18th centuries. His yard was at Hessle Cliff.  [x]

The family Fremault is said to have descended from Jehan Fremaux - Frumaus li couronné (Frumaux the Crowned) - a trouvère (troubadour) born in Lille c.1175. [xi] .  See Flanders - Ancestral Homeland

The family were of the bourgeoisie from at least as early as 1272 when Huon Fremault was noted as ‘Bourgeois in Lille’. [xii] A later member of the premier branch of Fremault, Lotard IV Fremault, was a money changer. He became ennobled in 1426. His son Philippe was also a knight, and the third generation was considered ennobled. Family fortunes in this branch were mostly gained from wine. Later bearers of the surname were among the many merchants and weavers who fled to other parts including England and France during periods of religious persecution.  The influence of Calvin saw Jean Fremault in Lille, who was just beginning a career in the Magistrat, prosecuted for heresy in 1540. He escaped to Antwerp where he later became a well-known merchant.  [xiii] One who paid the ultimate price was the Protestant rebel Fleurus Fremaut of Wasquehal who was hanged at Lille in 1568. [xiv] 

In England, the Fremaux / Fremault /Frema variants are first noticed from the late 16th century in the Walloon Churches of Canterbury and Norwich. It is well-known that they were refugees fleeing persecution; an example being a marriage record at Canterbury on 27 Dec1596 for Pierre Fremaut from St Pierre near Calais and Jeanne le Grand from St Etienne near Boulogne. The clerk noted that Pierre ‘entrée les refugiés in Canterbury l’an 1596…’ Perhaps George Vramboute, on record in Norwich in 1565, had a Dutch variant of the same name? [xv]   The anglicised surname ‘Frame ‘ had already appeared in Norwich from 1562 and also at the sea-port of Yarmouth from the1580s. [xvi] In 1732, Samuel Fremoult, a woolcomber, purchased Canterbury Castle. His son the Rev. Samuel Fremoult died possessed of it in 1779. [xvii] This Samuel Fremoult, of St Mildred's parish, possessed oast houses and accepted hops for contract-drying. He was also a brewer and for a time was in partnership with a Mr Hubbard. They had a brewery, two malthouses, and several public houses including The Mitre in the High Street and The Half Moon in the Butter Market. [xviii]  Demonstrating continuous ties to the textile trade was another Samuel Fremoult, a tailor in Bulwark St. Dover, Kent in 1791.[xix]

By the 1881 census of England only about 25 individuals with apparent French variants remained. They were surnamed:  Fremaux, Frimma, Framey, Frumey and Frumie.This suggests that most of the early families with the French variants had either fully assimilated and their surnames had become anglicised; that they had left England; or, that most of their male lines had become extinct - a less likely scenario. 

In discussing the influx of refugees from Flanders and France to England, John Peters (A Familyfrom Flanders) stated, ‘…when in due course they became naturalised they changed their name to an English equivalent…In France immigrants mostly keep their family names unaltered, apart from occasional fashions for Latinising, or even anglicising, but in England there is a fairly rapid assimilation. Perhaps it is because the English refuse to twist their tongues around foreign names.’  [xx]

Immigrants from Flanders settled in Scotland between the 11th and 17th centuries. It is not until the late 15th century that we first notice the Fram/Frame surname in Scottish records and there were only two individuals mentioned in this period:  Chaplain Sir Adam Frame and James Frame.    See  Scotland

1. CHAPLAIN SIR ADAM FRAME

Adam Frame is first noted as a witness to an Instrument in the Midlothian Protocol Book of James Young 1488/9. [xxi] Later, on 9 Jul 1495 he was mentioned in the following:

Abstract.

Notarial Instrument on the Proclamation of the Brieve of Chancery for the Service of Margaret Boyd, widow of Alexander Lord Forbes, at the market-cross of Lanark, by John Hamiltoun, serjeant in that part, citing the barons and lieutenants of the shire of Lanark to appear for that purpose in the court-house of Edinburgh, on Monday the 27th of July following. 

'...Acta erant hec ad prescriptum crucem foralem antedicti burgi, hora nona ante meridiem, vel eo circa, sub anno, die, mense, indictione et pontificatu quibus supra presentibus ibidem, providis et discretis  viris, videlicet Thoma Weir, Johanna Mowat, ballivis dicti burgi, Andrea Williamsone, Johanne Doby, Willelmo Pursell, Willelmo Dikesone, Roberto Pedecrw, Thoma Lumisdaill, Thoma Bannathyne, Johanne Madar, et domino Adam Frame, capellano, testibus ad premissa, vocatis,pariter et requisitis.  

Et ego Johannes Stephani presbiter Glasguensis, etc. (in communi forma).’ [xxii]

2. JAMES FRAME

James Frame in Musselburgh was deceased by 13 June 1495. Musselburgh was another sea port town through which the Dutch and Flemish traded.  James Frame was noted in the Midlothian Protocol Book of James Young (1493-1497):

‘09. 13 Jun 1495. William Malis, indweller in Smethton, resigned in the hands of William Fausid, bailie of Mussilburgh, an annualrent of sixteen shillings from the land of the deceased James Frame, lying in the burgh of Mussilburgh, on the east side of the street called Neubiggin, between the lands of Simon Cass on the south and north, the common of Mussilburgh on the east and a common passage on the west…’

The census of 1881 clearly shows that Lanarkshire had become the British ‘hotspot’ for the Frame surname. [xxiii]   1,540 Frames were enumerated in Scotland with1,184 of them in Lanarkshire. Similarly with Fram - there were 58 counted with 31 being in Lanarkshire.

Like their namesakes in England, many of the early Frames in Scotland are known to have had strong ties to the textile industry as merchants, burgesses and artisans, including many weavers.  The places we find them had been settled by Flemings; however, no documentary evidence has been found to indicate that they were among the Flemish people who travelled up to Scotland in the train of David I.  Considering the date the Fram/Freame surname first appears in Scotland, perhaps the most plausible period for the earliest migration would be after 1424 during the reign of James I of Scotland (reigned 1406-1437) when he returned after having been held in England for 18 years by Henry IV and Henry V:

 'One possible exception may be noticed in this matter.  James I. of Scotland spent his youth at the English Court, and returned to his own land imbued with English ideas. He may well have been struck with the results of the industrial policy of Edward III., and he gets credit for sending for craftsmen out of England, France, and Flanders, and planting them in Scotland …’  [xxiv]

When Scotland became a Protestant country in 1560 it was a haven for Calvinists/Reformists from the Continent. Some early Frames in the Edinburgh environs are found in the Canongate, Linlithgow and Uphall and introduced first names such as Daniel, Michael and Harri - names not previously seen in early Scottish Frame families.  Some examples in this eastern cluster are William Frame (sp. Helen Fleming) who was a Burgess in Edinburgh in 1592; John Frame, son to John Frame was apprenticed to James Hutson, hatmaker in 1593 and in 1618 was a Hatmaker, Burgess; Daniel Frame was a Burgess/Merchant in Edinburgh in1642; Michael Frame was a wobster (weaver) in 1625 and Joseph Frame was a Burgess in Linlithgow before 1623.

From various Scottish records in the mid-16th century including Wills/Testaments we begin to find Frames scattered throughout the Lowlands of Scotland, especially Lanarkshire. Some examples are Arthur Fram in Kilcadzow near Carluke, Lanarkshire (1551); Robert Frame (sp. Margaret Abercorne), Cardross, Dunbartonshire (1564); Andrew Frame, Blackburn, East Kilbride, Lanarkshire (1583); James Frame, Edelwood Chapel beside Hamilton, Lanarkshire (1587); William Frame, Merchant/Burgess in Edinburgh (1592);  John Fram, Dalserf, Lanarkshire (1593).

Arthur Fram was mentioned in George Black’s Surnames of Scotland.  In 1551 he witnessed a document for John Maxwell, laird of Calderwood:

89. DUNLOP    21 September, 1551, 11 a.m.

John Maxuell, laird of Calderuod, and of the barony of Mauldslie appeared on the ground of his five pound lands of old extent of Kynkaidzowlaw, lying within the barony of Mauldislie, sheriffdom of Lanark, and upper ward of Clydisdaile, and there, for a sum of money paid to him by Andrew Dunlop, gave sasine of the said five pound lands to the said Andrew Dunlop and Christine Coittis, his spouse, conform to the tenor of a charter to that effect.

Witnesses: Sir James Flemyng, chaplain, Thomas Clerksoun, William Caidzow, James Symsoune, James Gillerissoun, Arthur Fram, tillers and inhabitants of the said lands.’  [Glasgow (Scotland) – Robert Renwick, ABSTRACTS OF PROTOCOLS OF THE TOWN CLERKSOF GLASGOW, p.32]

A John Frame in Kilcadzow who died 10 Jan 1606 was almost certainly a near relative.  John Frame left a testament dated 2 Jan 1606. The sum of his inventory was £536 and included quantities of unwaulked cloth and linen which suggests that he may have been a weaver or merchant.  Other artisan Frames in the Carluke environs were mentioned in Poll Tax records.  For instance, in 1695 there were two records for Walter Frame in ‘Wigetshaw’ (Waygateshaw), one a weaver and the other a coater – perhaps they were father and son.  We also find Frames in Scotland described as sheriff, provost, writer, farmer, shoemaker, stocking maker, wright, mason etc.

Larkhall in Dalserf parish was known as a weavers’ town; however, Larkhall did not develop as a town until about 1770. The Statistical Accounts of Scotland (1791-99) states that Larkhall had about 100 houses at that time, which were principally occupied by weavers; many new incomers to the area. The old established Dalserf Frame families, however, were known to have been involved in weaving almost 200 years before the expansion of the weaving industry in Larkhall. The evidence is in the1610 Will of Jonet Hamilton, first wife of John Frame in Marlage:  ‘Item to James Fram, wobster [weaver] in corsolloch [Cornsilloch], £12, part there of borrowed silver and part for work.’  [xxv]  It is clear from his 1622 Will that John Frame in Marlage was reasonably well-off for those times.  The sum of his inventory and the monies owed to him was £869 10s. After his debts were paid his three children received £762 17s 8d divided between them.  This John Frame had a brother James Frame who was a merchant in Dalserf.  There are numerous Wills/Testaments for Frames in the late 16th and 17thcenturies but only four in the 18th century. Perhaps Frame family fortunes took a downward spiral during this period.  From the 19th century onwards, the volume is what one would expect given the number of Frames in census records.  

Alexander McLeod notes in The Book of Old Darvel [Ayrshire] and Some of Its Famous Sons:

There is a tradition that both Dutch and Huguenot immigrants settled inthe Irvine Valley, and this tradition is supported by such surnames as Gebbie,Scade, Frame and Howie.  A colony of Flemings also established themselves in the neighbouring town of Strathaven [in Lanarkshire], which is still called Flemington. [xxvi]

The OPR records of the Frames in Strathaven and other parts of Avondale parish provide ample evidence of ‘Flemishness’ in their occupations:  John Frame and James Frame, weavers in Strathaven; John, James and William Frame, weavers in Threestanes;  Robert Frame, weaver in Brownmuir; John Frame, mason in Strathaven; James Frame, brewer in Strathaven, Robert Frame, merchant in Strathaven.  On 5 May 1684, James Frame, weaver in Strathaven was on a list of fugitives published by the Privy Council in Edinburgh, 'Against rebels lately in arms in the West...They will be prosecuted and brought to punishment. All subjects are to aprehend them.' S2567. [xxvii] Several other Frames have been identified as ‘Covenanters’.

Given the large genetic distances between some related Frame participants in the FRAME DNA PROJECT it is evident that their lines branched apart many centuries ago.  One of these ‘outlier’ lineages has ancestry traced to Durham, England in the late 16thcentury. Their family tradition is that their Frames ‘came down from Berwick’ – a port that once saw wool from Scotland shipped directly to the markets of Flanders.  Another is from Lanarkshire where numerous Flemish families settled.  

CONCLUSION

There is significant evidence to support the long-held tradition that the Frames in Scotland were descendants of ‘weavers from Flanders’, so too, those in England. Moreover, if genetic kinship between the English and Scottish Frame/Freame families and the Fremault/Fremaux families is ever confirmed by Y-DNA testing – a goal of the Project – then it would be a discovery of significant importance.

Julie Frame Falk

Founder, Admin and Researcher

FRAME DNA PROJECT 

18 Feb 2015

~~~~~

© Julie Frame Falk - All Rights Reserved

__________________________________________

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[i]  George Black, The Surnames of Scotland, 1946, p.278

[ii] Robert Ferguson, The Teutonic Name-System Applied to the Family Names of France, England, & Germany, 1864, p.161.

[iii] Ibid. p.215

[iv] These samples were collated from birth records at Family Search and other sources. It is not a complete set of records. The number of records per pin is in brackets following surnames.

[v] Wiltshire Record Society, edited by D.A. Crowley, The Wiltshire Tax List of 1332, 1989, pp.129-30

[vi] Samuel Smiles, The Huguenots, their Settlements, Churches and Industries in England and Ireland, 1869, pp.5-9

[vii]  ‘Nailsworth: Economic history', A Historyof the County of Gloucester: Volume 11: Bisley and Longtree Hundreds (1976), pp. 211-215]

[viii] Gloucestershire Archives, Reference: D444/T56

[ix] P.R.O.Treaty Roll 134, m.7.  Enrolled in the Great Red Book of Bristol, f.41;printed in Bristol Record Society's Publications, vol. iv, p.185'; [MaryCarus-Wilson, The Overseas Trade of Bristol in the Later Middle Ages, p.101 

[x] From:'Hull, 1700-1835', A History of the County of York East Riding: Volume 1: The City of Kingston upon Hull (1969), pp. 174-214

[xi] Feuchère, La Bourgeoisie au Lilloise au Moyen Âge.In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 4e année, N. 4, 1949. pp. 421-430:  'Jean Frumaux said "Frumaux the Crowned" would have been born around 1175 and would have had ties with Guillaume II, lord of Bethune, 1193 -1213 [b. c. 1160?] (According to FREMAUX, Histoire genealogique de la Famille Fremault, Lille, 1908, page 4.’)

[xii] Fremaux, Histoire genealogique de la Famille Tenremonde, Souvenirs de la Flandre wallonne, 1st ser., page 4

[xiii] Robert S Du Plessis, Lille and the Dutch Revolt, 1991, pp.10-11, 174, 194

[xiv] John Peters, A Family from Flanders, 1985, p.66

[xv] William John Charles Moens, Huguenot Society of London, The Walloons And Their Church At Norwich: Their History And Registers 1565-1832, Vol.1, 1887-1888, p.18

[xvi] Family Search

[xvii] 'Canterbury: The castle', The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume11 (1800), pp. 59-66.

[xviii] Dennis Baker, The Marketing of Corn inthe First Half of the Eighteenth Century: North-East Kent, The Agricultural History Review, p.146

[xix] Records of Sun Fire Office

[xx] John Peters, A Family from Flanders, 1985,pp.4-5.

[xxi] Midlothian Protocol Book of James Young, 1485-1489; 1584-1515 Vol.2

[xxii] Archæological and Historical Collections Relating to Ayrshire & Galloway,Volume 3, 1882 - Architecture, pp.146-147

[xxiii] Archer Software, British 19th Century Surname Atlas.

[xxiv] W. Cunningham, Alien Immigrants to England, 1867, pp. 129-131

[xxv] National Records of Scotland ref. CC10/5/2

[xxvi] The Book of Old Darvel and Some of its Famous Sons, edited by Alexander G. McLeod, 1953

[xxvii] Crawford.bib Ryl Tudor V2, pp.400-1