About
Family History
Every now and then, people ask about the French side of my family. So I've put together this page to bring together a short summary of where my family and name comes from.
Family Tree
My father was born in Corbie, and raised in Villers-Bretonneux (see the official website [google translation] and the Wikipedia entry). It's a small village near Amiens (and not too far from Paris) in the north-western part of France.
My grandfather, Emile Friant, has passed away, but my grandmother is still living in the same house my father grew up in. One of my grandfather's brothers, Marcel, also lives nearby. Of Emile's children, only my father has left France, my aunt, uncle, and cousins still live in France, some near Villers Bretonneux.
My Great-Grandparents were Aurèle Emile Friant (1902-1974) and Antoinette Marie Vimeux (1901-1979). Married in 1922, they had 16 children.
- Emilienne Marie Antoinette (1922-)
- Marcel Emile Henri (1924-)
- Suzanne Germaine (1925-)
- Maurice Bénoni (1927-D)
- Eliane Lucienne (1928-)
- Emile Aurèle Ulysse (1929-)
- André Serge Louis (1930-D)
- Henri Jean Aurèle (1932-D)
- Jean René (1933-D)
- Germaine Jeanne Marie-Thérèse (1934-)
- Antoinette Marie Madeleine (1936-)
- Jacqueline Aurelie (1938-)
- Christiane Jeannnine Mauricette (1939-D)
- Geneviève François (1942-)
- Roger François (1943-)
- Mauricette Marcelle (1944-)
Past Events
Some famous battles during World War 1 took place in and around the village, and unfortunately due to that fact, many historical records were destroyed. My grandfather, Emile, had done some research on the family tree and found that the birth records he needed to trace the family back were among those destroyed. So while there were some famous people with the last name Friant, such as General Louis Friant, and the painter Emile Friant, we may never know if they are related to my family in any way.
Web Site
This domain was purchased by Jakim and Dom Friant on September 6, 2002. It is currently managed by Jakim Friant (so all questions or comments about the site should go to me).
Hosting is provided by doteasy.com.
