Topics

• About the Freathy One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• DNA project
• Contact Details

About the Freathy One-Name Study

I have been researching my mother's maiden name, Freathy, and its variants for nearly 40 years. I was a founder member of the Guild and am happy to share the information I have with anyone interested.

Variants

The main variants are Freathy, Freethy and Frethey or Frethy.

Origin of the surname

The surname derives from a farm of that name on the boundaries of the parishes of Antony and St John in SE Cornwall, just over the Hamoaze from Plymouth. The farm was owned by Tavistock Abbey before the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s and so the surname was probably that of the tenants of the farm. The origin of the farm name has defeated surname experts. The expert on Cornish names, Oliver Padel, in his 'A Popular Dictionary of Cornish Place-Names' (1988), writes:

'Vridie, 1286; compare Roger Fridia living in the parish (St John) in 1327, and Thomas Fredea in the Hundred (East Wivelshire) in 1428. It is unknown whether the place-name or the surname is the original. If the place-name, it is of unknown derivation. If the surname is the original, it might be compared with the surname Friday, found in Devon in 1332 and elsewhere.'

Historical occurrences

Most people with the surname descend from a Roger Freathy of the parish of St Veep in SE Cornwall who died in 1599. He left a will but that was unfortunately lost in the 18th century when the records were moved from Bodmin to Truro. My own branch of the family, the Antony branch, cannot be traced before a John Freathy who married in St John parish in 1727. The parish registers do not survive before the late 17th century. He was born in about 1690 but I do not know where. The likelihood is that he also was a descendant of Roger Freathy.

Frequency of the name

The surname is now very rare in UK but seems to be faring better in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Distribution of the name

The surname spellings were used indiscriminately before the mid 19th century, when most people were illiterate, but from then on Freathy was used mostly by the families then in Antony and the Plymouth area; Freethy was used by families in the far west of Cornwall, and in the north around St Issey, and Frethy or Frethey was used by families on the mid south coast of Cornwall. Families outside Cornwall often used the spelling denoting from where their branch had emigrated in Cornwall.

Data

I have a large amount of data on Freathy families all over the world but none of it is in computer form. If you want details on your family, please ask and give me your postal address so that I can send you photocopies.

DNA project

As my own surname is not Freathy, I cannot have my own Y Chromosome DNA tested. However, if other male Freathys are willing to do have their DNA tested, it would be bvery helpful. In particular it would be useful to know whether anyone descended from the Antony branch has the same, or very similar, DNA to someone descended from Roger Freathy of St Veep.

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mr Peter J Towey
20 Skylark Rise,
Woolwell,
Plymouth,
Devon
PL6 7SN
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

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