Compiled by
THE MEDIA RESEARCH BUREAU
Washington, D. C.

The surname FRAZEE is of uncertain origin, but all available evidence indicates it was derived from the French cognoment Fraisse or Fraisse'. This name was first assumed as a surname either by those who made their home at Fraissin, in France, or by those who resided near the frene, that is, the ash-tree. The Latin fraicinus, fraissinus, fraisis, the equivalent of the French is aid to have given rise to many names, including Fraissee, Fraisse', Fraissignes, Fraissinet, Freysseix, Fraixxeix, Fraix, Fray, Fraye, and Fraysse. The Americanized forms of the French Fraisse and Fraysseix are believed to be Frassey, Frasy, Frasee, Frazey, Frazie, and Frazee. All of these spellings are found in the early Colonial records, but the last is the variant most generally in evidence in America in modern times.

As early as the year 1525, one Fraysseix (Christian name unknown) married Gabrielle du Breuil, of a family anciently seated in Limousin, France. Guillaume (William) du Breuil, .'alias de Fraysseix", the son of this union, was living in 1553 and was the father of Jacques (James) de Fraysseix, Lord of Beausoleil, living in 1598. The family was recorded as belonging to the nobility of Limousin in 1611, at which time the representative of the family was Leonard de Fraysseix, Lord of Breuil.

Of the Fraisse or Defraisse family, early resident at Vernines, in Auvergne, Master Etienne (Edward) Dufraisse was living in the reign of King Louis XIV. His son, Michel (Michael) Dufraisse, was married in 1693 to Cluade d'Aragonnes, by whom he had issue of a son named Joseph. The prefix cki was dropped from the name at a later date and the line became known as Fraisse or Fraisse'. The first of the name to settle in America were probably among the Huguenots who fled from France to England, America, and various parts of Continental Europe. However, the ancestry of the early emigrants to this country is not certain.

Probably the first to come to America were Thomas, William, and Barbore (Barbara) Frasey, who were transported into the Virginia Colony in 1651 by William Armestead, an early settler in Virginia. While the records of these immigrants are only fragmentary, it is at least possible that they were the progenitors of the Frazee family of Virginia, which had attained considerable size before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.

The progenitor of the greater number of the families of the name in America was probably Joseph Frasey or Frazee, of Essex County, N. J. One Joseph Frasey, called Junior, died in that vicinity about the year 1693; and among other early, though fragmentary, records of the family in Essex County, N. J., are the wills of William Frasy Sr., dated 1704, and of Joseph Frazee Sr. dated 1714.

Joseph Frazee, one of the eighty associates of Elizabethtown, N. J., who were responsible for the managing, settling, surveying, and disposing of the lands of the "Elizabeth Town Grant" in the years of 1736 and 1737, made his home in the Passaic Valley and left issue there of three sons; Cornelius, John, and Henry.

Cornelius Frazee, son of the immigrant to the Passaic Valley, married Sarah Robins and was the father by her of at least three children, Cornelius Jr., Betsey (Elizabeth), and Hannah. Of these, the son, Cornelius Jr., first married Sheba, daughter of Benjamin Hedges, and was the father by her of two daughters; Polly and Sally. By his second wife, Mary, daughter of John Tilyou, he had further issue of John, Catherine, and Moses.

John Frazee, son of the immigrant to the Passaic Valley, was married in 1764 to Hannah, daughter of Peter Willcox, and was the father by her of at least two sons, Peter and Noah. According to family historians, the sons removed to the West after the death of their father, but their records are not complete.

Henry Frazee, the youngest son of the immigrant to the Passaic Valley, married Sarah, daughter of William Maxwell, and had issue by her of Polly, Maxwell, Moses, and Sally.

Maxwell, the elder son of Henry and Sarah (nee Maxwell), married Nancy Badgley, in 1774. To this union were born seven children; Henry (died at twelve years of age), Noah, Maria, Anne, Sally, Abby, and Susan Frazee. By his second wife, the Widow Nancy (nee Line) Cory, Maxwell had no further progeny. His only surviving son, Noah Frazee, was married before 1819 to Betsey, daughter of Aaron Squier or Squire, of Long Hill, N. J. To this union were born Henry, Aaron, Mary, Samuel, Squier, Anson, John, and Anne.

Moses, the younger son of Henry and Sarah (nee Maxwell), married Susan, daughter of Benjamin Miller, of Scotch Plains, and was the father by her of two daughters, Betsey and Phebe Frazee.

One Joseph Frazee, supposedly unrelated to the before-mentioned line, although he may have been descended from the first Joseph of New Jersey, was early established at Connecticut Farms. His son, Asa Frazee, was married in 1775 to Sophia, daughter of Andrew Littell, and settled on Sutton Hill, in the Passaic Valley, N. J. The children of Asa and Sophia were Jemima, Sophia, and Betsey. There was no male issue by this union.

            In the lists of wills recorded in Essex County, N. J., are found references to Edward Frazee, whose will was recorded in 1773; Abraham Frazee, will recorded in 1758; Abraham Frazee - 1784; Benoni Frazee - 1742, Benoni Frazee - 1797, Cornelius Frazee, Sr. - 1784; Cornelius Frazee - 1826; David O., Ebenizer, John, and Betsey Frazee, jointly recorded in 1798; Edward Frazee - 1733; Eliakim Frazee - 1804; Eliphalet Frazee - 1758; Ephraim Frazee - 1762; Ephreim, Jr. - 1759; Gershom Frazee - 1754; Gershom Frazee - 1762; Gershom Frazee - 1791; Henry Frazee - 1795, Isaac Frazee, sr. - 1775; James Frazee 1741, James Frazee - 1759; James Frazee - 1761; Jeremiah Frazee - 1757; John Frazee 1724; John Frazee - 1784; Jonas Frazee - 1777; Joseph Frazee- 1774; Levi Frazee - 1782; Moses Frazie - 1762, Moses Frazee - 1815, Samuel Frazee - 1767; Samuel Frazee - 1827; Timothy Frazee- 1762; and Zebedee Frazee - 1827. Other wills appear in the same vicinity under later dates.

In Morris County, N. J., Henry Frazee's will was recorded in 1784; the will of Ephraim Frazee Jr. was recorded in Somerset County, N. J. in 1760; the will of Stephen Frazee appears in Monmouth County, N. J. dated 1766; and in the records of Middlesex County, N. J., are found the will of Gershom Frazee, 1769, James Frazee 1771, Morris Frazee, 1791, William Frazee, 1755, and many of later dates.

Henry S. Frazee, who was born (parentage unknown) in Monmouth County, N. J., in the year 1811, was left an orphan when only nine years of age. He married Sarah Van Patten, of Somerset County, in 1836, and removed with her father's family, about two years later, to Sangamon County, Illinois. To this union were born four daughters; Cornelia A., Hannah, Elizabeth, and Margaret, but no male progeny.

A family of the name was early seated in Coshocton County, Ohio, but its connection, if any, with the before-mentioned lines is not known. The family is said to have been established in that vicinity by one Frazee, a native of Pennsylvania. This progenitor of the Ohio line had a son named Andrew Frazee, who married Almira Stricker before 1874 and left issue by her of six children.

Imbued with the pioneer spirit, courageous and ingenious, many of the names have been prominent in various parts of the country. They have shown considerable artistic talent, intellectual resource, and an understanding of human nature - - traits that have aided them in the many lines of endeavor in which they have been found.

Among those of the name who served with the American forces during the Revolutionary War were Benjamin and Jonathan Frazee of Virginia; Samuel Frazee who served with the Kentucky Militia; Samuel Frasey of Sussex County N. J.; Benjamin, Jonas, and Matthias Frazee of Essex County N. J.; Benoni, Hiram, Morris, and Moses Frazee and Benjamin Frasy of Middlesex County, N. J.; Henry and Reuben Frazee of Somerset County, N. J.; Abraham Frazee who served with the New Jersey Troops in the Continental Army; and probably many others from the other states of that period.

John, George, William, Joseph, Henry, Cornelius, Moses, Noah, Samuel, James, Isaac, Benoni, and Benjamin are among the masculine Christian names that recur most frequently in the annals of the Frazees.

Of the bearers of the name who have attained distinction in America in comparatively recent times, the following are considered representative:

            John Frazee (1790 - 1852), of New Jersey and Rhode Island, sculptor.

George Frazee (nineteenth century), of Iowa, lawyer.

Louis Jaco Frazee (1819-1905), of Kentucy and  Ohio, physican and author

William D. Frazee (latter nineteenth and early twentieth centuries), of Mississippi, United States District Attorney.

Isaac Jenkinson Frazee (b. 1858), of California, author, poet, and illustrator.

Hazel Frazee (twentieth century), of Illinois, illustrator.

Laura Frazee (twentieth century), American author and editor.

Susan Isabel Frazee (twentieth century), American educator and author.

Of the coats of arms borne in ancient times by the French families to which the American Frazee’s are believed to be related, the following are frequently in evidence (Riestap, Armorial General, 1934):

Arms. I (Fraisseix of Limousin) --'Azure three bars wavy or." Arms.11 (Fraisse of Auvergne) -- "Argent, an ash tree vert; a chief azure, charged with three estoiles or."