The Story of
Greetings! This web page is dedicated to my father, Philip Howard FRAKES (1929-2005), of whom I am incredibly proud. To be able to say that you are my father gives me great pride. You have carried the Frakes name with honor. Your father, you, Uncle Bill and Aunt Judy have given the Frakes name back the honor it once held. Thank you so much for being the man you are and for providing me with a wonderful home and family and a most honorable name, FRAKES. I have great admiration, respect and love for you.
"Those who do not treasure up the memory of their ancestors do not deserve to be remembered by posterity." Edmund Burke
This is a story about one FRAKES Family, ours. I have always had a fascination about family history. Even as a child and a teen I loved to listen to my grandmothers talk about their families. Family members who had lived and died before I had come into this world. I would sit and listen to them for hours about the family, when most kids my age couldn't care less about such things. And, my grandmothers, Beatrice Margaret Julietta (MERTEN) FRAKES and Grace (BASSETT) CONANT, were always happy to oblige.
Our particular FRAKES Family's history, in written modern recorded history, begins in the 1500's in the beautiful countryside of Somerset, England. Our family name was originally spelled FREKE and pronounced as we would pronounce FRAKE, or the word rake with an "F". It has been stated that the family originated in Denmark before arriving in England. Wheather this is true or not, I do not know, but they had obviously been in England for generations to have risen to the point of landed gentry.
Our grandfather, Francis "Frank" FREKE was a man of note, living in Thorncombe, Somersetshire and he also had property in Crewkern, Somersetshire. In 1558 he was doing business with Queen Mary, better know as Bloody Mary, for whom the modern day drink is named. Mary was the eldest daughter of King Henry VIII. She was also a devoted Roman Catholic. When her father died, the throne went to her teenage younger brother, Henry, who was Protestant, as his father. Henry died young and she became queen. She went through the kingdom having Protestant ministers murdered and many of their followers imprisoned. The exact religious affiliation of Francis is not truthfully known, which is probably why he remained alive, or the fact that Queen Mary needed his help in certain matters. His brother, Edmund FREKE, became archdeacon of Canterbury, Canon of Westminster and nominated by Queen Elizabeth I as bishopric of Worcester, which would suggest that the FREKE family was Protestant.
Francis' son, and also our ancestor, Robert FREKE, was the Teller and Auditor to the Exchequer for King Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. Robert held the manor of Shroton in Dorset (originally know as Iwern Courteney) and had a vast estate. He purchased the manor and estate from the Earl of Pembroke in 1560. Robert was a very wealthy man. He was also very prolific. He had ten children. One of his sons, for whom we are not descended, moved to Ireland near the city of Cork. There he, William FREKE, had FREKE Castle. From him descended Sir Raufe FREKE, Baronet and from him the EVANS-FREKE family, namely Sir John EVANS-FREKE, Baronet, 6th Baron Carbery.
Sir Thomas FREKE, Knight, son of Robert, son of Francis, for whom we descend, carried on the family name with great respect and passed it onto his children with great care and pride.
In 1584, Thomas FREKE was MP, a Member of Parliment, from Dorchester.
On 15 Apr 1603, Thomas FREKE was knighted at the coronation of King James I of England, by King James.
In 1604, Thomas FREKE, Knt. was a Member of Parliment from Dorset.
In 1626, Thomas FREKE, Knt. was a Member of Parliment for Dorset.
Thomas was Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset for about 30 years.
Thomas and his son owned the largest of the Dorset privateering ships.
Thomas loaned money to both Sir Walter RALEIGH and Lord Burleigh.
Sir Thomas FREKE is especially important to we American FRAKES because he was named one of the Council for Virginia in 1607. He later was a member of the Virginia Company. More on this later. He had vast holdings, which included the manor of Shroton and of Hinton St. Mary. He was very generous to the churches, ten of which he was responsible for. He built churches and added to several. He was greatly loved by his children. His two surviving sons, Raufe and William (both of whom married CULPEPER sisters, the CULPEPER family for whom the county in Virginia is named), built a very beautiful memorial to him and their mother in the Church of Shroton. I include the memorial here, as it not only is beautiful but it also shows their love for their parents.
Lady Elizabeth FREKE, as was her title, founded, five years before her death, a free school in the village of Shroton, with endowment to pay for a schoolmaster. A new school was later built on the same location in 1850. Today it is named Elizabeth FREKE Hall.
Sir Thomas' son, Thomas FREKE, Esquire inherited the manor of Hinton St. Mary from his father. He began the task of rebuilding of the Manor House on the site of the oldest of the monastic buildings, large parts of which were incorporated into the new structure. The rebuilding was not complete at his death in 1642, but was continued by his wife Mary (DODINGTON) FREKE throughout her entire forty-four years of widowhood. She also rebuilt the Village of Hinton St. Mary, which is what it is today thanks to her. (The portrait at the right is that of Sir Thomas FREKE, Knight.)
The FREKE Family Coat-of-Arms is engraved above the front door of the Manor of Hinton St. Mary. Their memorial can be seen in the parish chuch of Hinton St. Mary.
Before I move onto American and our immigrant to America, I must mention the next Lord of the Hinton St. Mary Manor, William FREKE, cousin of Thomas FREKE. He completed the building of the Village, which Mary had begun. He also added the E Wing onto the manor home. He became a gentleman commoner of Wadham College, Oxford in 1677 and later went to the Temple and was called to the bar. He made a name for himself because of his relgious beliefs. He refused to go along with the established church, the Church of England. He wrote several books. He was antitrinitarian and wrote on such. His theological writings were burned by the public hangman in the reign of King Charles II, by the order of the House of Commons and House of Lords. He was also fined 500 pounds. He spoke and read Hebrew. He never officially left the Church of England, even though the antitrinitarian beliefs were common among Baptists, Quakers and Sabbatarians of the time. He was thought quite strange by his father for not accepting the common beliefs of the Church of England, therefore he did not become heir of Hinton St. Mary. He did, however, remain living in the manor for his entire life. He was Justice of the Peace. He wrote twelve books in his lifetime. He should have gone to America where he could have written his beliefs without fines by the government.
Tradition in England has it that the United Staes Seal and the Flag of the United States was adopted from the Freke/Frakes Coat of Arms and Banner. As before mentioned, Sir Thomas Freke, Knight, was a member of the Virginia Company. The banner by which the ships sailed was the red and white stripe of the FREKE/FRAKES Banner. Our founding fathers knew this banner well. And to add a bit more to the claim, the property that John WASHINGTON lived on and raised his son, our first president, George WASHINGTON, was purchased from William FREKE, a cousin of our immigrant John FREKE. So President Washington would have been familiar with not only the FREKE/FRAKES Banner, but also the FREKE/FRAKES Coat of Arms, which had the stars and stripes.
This William FREKE, remained in Virginia and married and had children. He had no sons, only daughters, therefore no one today is named FRAKES from this line. His daughter, Anne FREKE, married John HEABARD and they had a son William HEABARD. William FREKE/FREAKE was a wealthy man and large property owner. He was the neighbor of John WASHINGTON and Andrew MONROE, both of whom had sons who became presidents of the United Sates. It makes one wonder if there would have been a FRAKES president if William FREKE/FREAKE had had a son.
Above left is the FREKE Coat of Arms. Above right is the Clarke Coat of Arms. The Coat of Arms below is that of our immigrant, John FREKE/FRAKES and his wife, Elizabeth (CLARKE) FREKE/FRAKES. The left side of the Coat of Arms is that of the Freke Family and the right side is that of the CLARKE Family, the common practice of two aristocracy families joining. This Coat of Arms is on the grave stones of John and Elizabeth in Boston, Massachusetts.
It was a common practice for the younger sons of British Aristocracy to immigrate to America, Australia, or one of the British Colonies. The bulk of all British estates usually went to the eldest son, not that the younger didn't receive an inheritance, but not as grand. Therefore, many came to America to turn what they received from their father into great wealth. For some this worked, for others it did not. For our John, he did well.
Our FRAKES Family did not remain long in Boston. Two likely reasons being that their father died and their mother remarried, and because of an inheritance. John FREKE/FRAKES, Jr. received an inheritance of property in New York from his father's best friend, Captain SCARLETT. He therefore began the migration path westward for the FRAKES Family.
John had been born in 1668 in Boston, Massachusetts. The name of his wife is not known, only that she was Dutch. (I might note here that much of the connecting genealogy of the FREKE to FRAKES Family was received from our British cousins, among whom were Hazel (DUNMORE) FRAKES; Christine (FREKE) WILSON; and the granddaughter of Amos FRAKES of Castle Donnington. Unfortunately all of them are now deceased.) John had brothers Thomas and Clark.
John, Jr. named one of his sons Philip, after the shallot of his father's that had been pirated when John, Jr. was five years old. It must have made an impression on him. Philip was born in New York in 1690. The exact connection of the rest of the FRAKES men is not known. It is know that they are family, but to which FRAKES they descend from is not known.. There was a Henry FRAKE/FRAKES and a William FRAKE/FRAKES, whether they were John's sons or John's brother's sons, it is not known. Only that they were of the same family according to the imformation provided from our FREKE family in Britian.
Philip Edward FREAKE/FRAKE had son, John FRAKE/FRAKES, born 1725 in Pennyslvania. (Philip Edward's other sons:Nathan FRAKE/FRAKES, Henry FRAKE/FRAKES and Robert FRAKE/FRAKES. Nathan FRAKES is Chapter 23, Henry is Chapter 27 and Robert is Chapter 74 in the Frakes Family Genealogy book in the files section of the Frakes-Frake-Freke Heritage Yahoo Group.)
(Note: State lines were sometimes argued as to whether it was Pennyslvania or Virginia.)(Another Note: From the point of John FRAKE/FRAKES on, we owe much of our information to Nina FRAKES of San Mateo, California. She was a wonderful lady who spent many hours on the family tree.)
John was named in a military report: "He had acted as a guide for two men accused by the local squatter-settlers with spying out the land for speculative purposes." He was therefore accused of aiding the British during the war. At some point the family used the name of FRIGGS to protect themselves. When John first came back to America from Canada, he settled in Kentucky under the name of John FRIGGS, Sr., this was in 1781, but by 1790 he was listed as John FRAKES, Sr. He owned land in what was Hardin County and Nelson County, Kentucky.
One of Jonathan H. and Sarah Isabelle (McGLONE) FRAKES sons was William FRAKES, who was born the 4th November 1835 in Prairie Creek Township. He, as his father had, married a McGLONE girl. His wife was Martha Ann McGLONE, daughter of John and Hannah (AKERS) McGLONE, cousins to William's mother. William lived in Vigo County until sometime durng the 1890's. He then moved to Sullivan County, Indianna, where he had a farm. This is where he lived with his second wife, Amanda (COPPLE)(JULIAN) FRAKES, whom he married in 1884, after the death of Martha. William FRAKES had 8 children. 7 by his Martha and 1 by Amanda. They were: Francis Marion FRAKES born 1859 (See line following); Ruth Ellen FRAKES born 1862 (md Benjamin BAILEY); Joseph John Franklin FRAKES born 1865 (md Corda HANGER,); Mary Elizabeth FRAKES born 1869 (md George HALL); Thomas FRAKES born 1872; Philip FRAKES born 1874 (md Mary Ellen GASKINS); Rosa FRAKES born 1878 (md Tilden RAILSBACK); and Lemuel FRAKES (never married and lived in Orlando, Florida). His eldest son, Francis FRAKES brought back the earliest known ancestor's name of Francis.
Francis married Hannah Margaret C. "Maggie" ARTHUR in 1886. She was the daugher of Joseph and Margaret (MINKS) ARTHUR of Greene County, Indiana. The first English wife since the immigrant ancestor married Elizabeth CLARKE. Francis Marion FRAKES and his two sons were caught in an early spring rain storm while they were in the buggy. The baby was wrapped well and didn't get wet, but Francis and eldest son, Van Cleave FRAKES, were soaked, causing them both to end up with pneumonia and dying. The farm was not a place for a young widow and her baby. She had a very difficult time. The many other FRAKES evidently didn't feel the need to aid her or her baby boy. She had to put her son in an orphanage, Rose Children's Home in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana. She met and married James H. MEDAUGH, a somewhat wealthy man. She removed her son form the orphanage. She had another son, Albert MEDAUGH. James H. MEDAUGH would not let Margaret keep her FRAKES son so he had to go back into the orphanage in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The Historical LEMEN-FRAKES House, which was built in 1842. President Abraham LINCOLN visited this home on more than one occasion, spending the night at least once. A royal wedding took place in the house between Lydia Gertrude LEMEN and Count John SOBIESKI, Prince Royal, heir to the throne of Poland. This photo was taken in 1994. 
William Philip & Beatrice Margaret Julietta (MERTEN) FRAKES Family at the right. Left to Right: Philip, Bea, Bill, Judy and Bill.
Philip and Monna (Conant) Frakes Family. Left to Right: Tanya Rae (Frakes)(Courtright)& David Belfiore, David Philip Anthony Belfiore, Monna Marilyn (Conant) Frakes, Nathan Roddy Alan Courtright, Philip Howard Frakes, Trent Maurice Adams, Brock Richard Adams (on floor), Terri June (Frakes) Adams, Stephen Philip Howard Frakes, and Richard Dale "Rick" Adams (Not yet born to complete the family portrait is Daniel William Eli Belfiore)
1. Francis Freke, Esquire, was known as a person of good repute in Somersetshire, England as well as Thorncombe, Devonshire, England. He had two sons: Robert Freke, Esq. and John Freke.
2. Robert Freke, Esquire , born Thorncombe, Devon, England & died 1592, Shroton, Dorset, England
3. Sir Thomas Freke, Knight born 1563, Shroton, Dorset, England
4. Thomas Freke , born 1598, Shroton, Dorset, England
5. John Freke, Esquire , born 1631 Hinton St. Mary, Dorset, England
6. John Freke/Freake, Jr., born 1668, Boston, Massachusetts
7. Philip Edward Freke/Freake/Frake , born 1690, New York
8. John Frake , born 1725, Pennsylvania
9. Philip Frakes , born 1760/65, Nelson County, Kentucky
10. Rev. Aaron Frakes , born 1789/93, Nelson County, Kentucky
11. Johnathan H. Frakes , born 1811 Franklin County, Indiana
12. William Frakes , born 1835, Vigo County, Indiana
13. Francis Marion Frakes , born 1859, Vigo County, Indiana
14. Lt. William Philip Frakes , born 1890, Prairie Creek, Vigo County, Indiana. William married Beatrice Margaret Julietta Merten had three children: William Randolph Frakes, Philip Howard Frakes and Julianne May (Frakes) Thurman. All born in Salem.
15. Col. Philip Howard Frakes , born 1929, Salem, Marion County, Illinois. He married Monna Marilyn Conant, daughter of George William and Grace (Bassett) Conant, 8 October 1952.
16. Stephen Philip Howard Frakes, born 1957, Highland,Madison County, Illinois. I am presently living in Salem, Illinois.
Please Note: I have been working on genealogy since I was a teenager. My grandmothers would talk to me about the families. From those many talks with my grandmothers, Beatrice Margaret Julietta (Merten) Frakes and Grace (Bassett) Conant, a passion was born. I even chose to go to college in New England so that I could do research while there. Traveled to England and Germany for research. I love doing it and I have loved sharing it.
Unfortunately, there are some really rude and snobby family genealogists out there. They ask/demand your research material that you have worked so hard compiling. They want the information without doing the work. When you share it, they don't so much as say "thank you."
It is not my job to convince anyone that my research is accurate. I have collected so much information that I have several file cabinets full. I have read endless books, researched endless libraries, exchanged information with some very wonderful people, here in the United States, England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. I have spent hours and hours in county court houses, city halls, churches, historical commissions, cemeteries, etc.
I have been president of our city historical commission and have been an officer of the county Genealogical Society. I know the importance of accurate information and not believing everything that is handed to me from others. I have been very careful to make sure that what I have put on this web page is as accurate as possible.
So, I welcome emails from other Frakes/Freke families who have comments or just want to say "hi." I love meeting other Frakes' and Freke's. I also welcome additions, corrections and even questions.
I have compiled all of this information for my family and for myself, and for anyone who is appreciative of my work. I have no children of my own, but I do have several nephews and nieces. They benefit, as will their children, from my research.
Nina (HOWLETT) FRAKES of San Mateo, California. (She was a wonderful lady who did so much research on the Frakes family. Her work is priceless. She is author of Descendants of Philip and Phoebe (Case) Frakes - 1984.)
Hazel Marjorie Mary Dorothy (DUNMORE)FRAKES (1916-1988)of Leicestershire, England
Go to Castle Donington Frakes Family to see this Frakes line of descent. Hazel is at #10-3-8-7.
Sheila (ROBOTHAM)HOLMES of Bramcote, Nottingham, England.
Go to Castle Donington Frakes Family to see this Frakes line of descent. Sheila is #10-3-6-1-?.
Dulcie (FRAKES) ALLEN of Castle Donnington, England.
Go to Castle Donington Frakes Family to see this Frakes line of descent. Dulcie is #10-5-1-1.
John and Rosalind Ann "Ros" (SEWELL) FREKE of New Zealand, formerly of Bristol, England.
Enid Christine (Freke) Wilson (1922-1995) of Berks, England
Christine sent me so much information on not just the English side of the family, but also of the American side. A very lovely lady. I miss her correspondence since her passing. I have also corresponded with her lovely sister, Shirley FREKE. They and their brother, Gordon FREKE were the children of Samuel Clifford FREKE of Midsomer Norton, Somerset, England (#11-8-1 of Chapter 8A of my Freke-Frake-Frakes Genealogy, which is located in the file section of the Frakes-Frake-Freke Herritage Yahoo Group.)
