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In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we came from.'
~ Alex Haley
Welcome!
My name is Julie Frame Falk. I am a founder, researcher and administrator of the FRAME DNA PROJECT. I created this website to share data gathered during my research into the wider Frame clan.
Research pages can be accessed from the top menu bar, by clicking the downward facing arrow next to MORE, or clicking the links at the bottom of each page.
After decades researching the traditions passed down in many Frame families: that their ancestors were ‘weavers from Flanders’ and that they had ‘fled religious persecution’ - I now believe that some ‘Frame’ families recorded in early English and Scottish records were likely members of a Flemish family surnamed Fremault, since many different spelling variations of that name appear in English church registers. The Fremault/Fremaux are known to have been among those who fled Flanders to seek refuge in England, Scotland and other parts due to religious persecultion. Protestant refugees to Great Britain between 1550 and 1650 were mostly Flemish (Dutch-speaking) and Walloon (French-speaking):
Fleming and Walloon: members of the two predominant cultural and linguistic groups of modern Belgium. [Britannica]
Truncation of the surname to just the first syllable (Frem, Fram, Frame etc.) happened swiftly. (See England and Flanders-Ancestral Homeland pages). As John Peter’s wrote in his book, A Family from Flanders: ‘when in due course they became naturalised they changed their name to an English equivalent…in England there is a fairly rapid assimilation. Perhaps it is because the English refuse to twist their tongues round foreign names.'
In 1894, A. W. Cornelius Hallen identified Frame as being of Flemish origin in an article titled Surnames in an edition of The Scottish Antiquary or Northern Notes and Queries Vol. VIII, pp.76-77 (1894):
An extract from the article:
'It would exceed the limits of this paper to enter into details; we hope to continue the subject in a future number. I may, however, state that taking Norfolk, London, and Gloucestershire as old English weaving districts, I have found groups of names which Scotsmen would claim as belonging to Scotland, being at the present day common here, but which are of Flemish origin. Just to show that the materials exist for proving the prevalence of Flemish blood in Scotland at the present day, I will mention but a few of the many names common to England, Flanders, and Scotland: Clink, Cant, Mustard, Wingate, Younger, Justice, Furlong, Harrower, Cornelius, Adie, Frame, Cousin, Gentleman, Beveridge, Grote, Emery (or Imrie), Peacock, Enzell, Marriott, Danks, Kemp, Barty, Blaw (or Blow), Bonar, Luke.'
See Scotland for an image of the entire article.
As shown on the map following, the distribution of the FRAME surname and its many transitional variations throughout England and Scotland by 1700 was extensive. However, some families surnamed Frome, Froom and Froome represented by the yellow pins, may have their surname derived locatively from FROME in Dorset, Hereford and Somerset. To further complicate matters, Froom and Froome surname variants are also found on the Continent. This is where Y-DNA testing can be helpful to distinguish which surname vatiations are releated to one another in the patriarchal line, from those who are not.
Click this link to:
If finances allow, and immediate family males have not already tested it, we suggest choosing the Big Y700 test. It is the ultimate Y-DNA test at Family Tree DNA for males with the FRAME, FREAME, FREMAUX, FREMAULT and other eligible surname variants.
ELIGIBLE PROJECT SURNAMES
The Frame DNA Project is based on the 'Spear' surnames. See more on Surname Origins page:
FRAM. Spear.
SIMPLE FORMS
English: FRAME, FREEM.
French: FRÉMY, FREMEAUX, FROMMÉ, FORME.
Many similar surname variations are found in:
FLANDERS, BELGIUM – particularly Liège, Namur (Wallonia), Tournai (Hainaut), Hévillers, Brabant, Antwerp. Variations include: Freimaux, Frémaux, Fremaux, Fremeaux, Frahm, Frama, Fremau, Fremi, Fremie, Friem etc.
FRANCE – especially in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, French Flanders: Fremault , Fremaux ; also De Freme, Freme, Fremy etc
NETHERLANDS - particularly in Amsterdam: Fremaux, Fremeaux, Fram, Frame, Framey, Freem, Freeme, Frem, Fremau, Fremme, Fremou, Freummau, Froem, Fromie, Frummau etc.
Y-DNA RESULTS AT FAMILY TREE DNA
See the FRAME DNA PROJECT's public RESULTS page. These anonomised results are for the Project's participants who have chosen to publicly share. The two largest groups in the FRAME DNA PROJECT are Groups A and B. For an idea of how the lines are connecting to one another in each of these groups see the following Group Time Trees: 'The Group Time Tree shows a genetic family tree of direct paternal lineages on a time scale. It shows how Big Y tested members of Group Projects are related to each other and when their shared ancestors are estimated to have lived.'
Group A Time Tree and Group B Time Tree
This is public information and based on participants' own individual settings. Viewers are able to make their own selections to view groups within the Project via the selection panel. Click the left pointing arrow on the selection panel to move it aside and view the Time Tree.
is at Facebook.
This is a Private group for FRAME DNA PROJECT members to discuss their test results or collaborate with other members on their genealogical connections. Those who have not yet tested but are genuinely interested in doing so and seeking advice, may click the above link to request to join.
