FALLIS - FOLLIS Information

I use the term FALLIS - FOLLIS because 'A' comes before 'O' in the alphabet. Early records show families using FALLIS or FOLLIS intermixed from record to record in the same line. There appear to be at least five early FALLIS- FOLLIS families in North America.

1. Thomas FOLLIS was a Burgess in 1642 James City now Jamestown, Virginia the first continuous European settlement in 1607 North America. He is listed on page 54 in the Jamestowne Ancestors, 1607-1699: Commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of the Landing at James Towne and in the 1641 January 12th The Colonial Virginia Registry. Thomas may have died in Stafford County, Virginia around 1690. It is possible he is father of my Thomas, but I have yet to reseach this. My source never sent any paperwork, so I will have to do it myself eventually.
2. There may be two FALLIS-FOLLIS family lines in Canada that came from Ireland. James FOLLIS about 1770 Fermanagh, Ireland to Ontario, Canada died 1857. One descendant in California is a different Stan FOLLIS than the webmaster of this web site.
3. A second Canadian FALLIS line came from Ireland in 1825 to New Brunswick then Massachusetts see the January 2, 2006 post by Jeremy FALLIS
4. William Shelby Cravenscraft FOLLIS came from England or Wales to mid 1700's Virginia.
5. My Thomas FALLIS-FOLLIS family appears to be Scots-Irish coming from Ireland perhaps around 1698.

I have seen other FALLIS - FOLLIS names on ship passenger lists in the 1800-1900's. A few are mentioned on the FOLLIS Trivia web page. An Italian FOLLIS emailed me and posted queries on the FOLLIS mail lists and is perhaps the Italian FOLLIS source on John FOLLIS' FOLLIS DNA project. I did find a World Class Italian skier Arianna FOLLIS who won a bronze in the 2006 Winter Olympics, apparently her brother died in an avalanche. There is also a FOLLIS confectionary store in Italy.

An interesting lead to follow some day is in the book A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians by E. Polk Johnson, The Lewis Publishing Company, on page 1598 where William Hardwicke of Virginia "married Ann E. FOLLIS who was born in Virginia and was connected with many of the best families of the state being related to the Paine and Wells families and being a collateral descendant of Thomas Jefferson." The Hardwick's lived Courtland, Lawrence County, Alabama where William was mayor and several other FOLLIS marriages occurred within thirty years of theirs in 1852.

DNA Testing

With the growing importance of DNA genetic markers in confirming or refuting familial relationships, we need to consider the FOLLIS DNA Surname Project by John FOLLIS as the next step in our family research. It now includes the details of the genetic markers for four FOLLIS sub groups.

• Scots-Irish - my July 2009 test results match the Irish family tradition so far! See Mark Fallis Comments in November 2009 Guestbook
• Italian
• A third group that has been provisionally given the title of Anglo Norman
• Unassigned

Scots-Irish

Based on my research so far, I believe my FOLLIS family line was Scots-Irish when they came to America. Scots-Irish were Presbyterian settlers from Scotland who went to Catholic Ireland in the 1600's during the Plantation Era at the request of the King of England who wanted to dilute the political strength of Catholic Ireland in order to extend British rule to the Irish island. One family researcher says her FALLIS line is from Fermanagh Ireland.

My deceased aunt Helen and her brother Paul recalled her father, my grandfather, Milo saying we were Scots-Irish. A distant cousin in the 1900 Federal Census listed his ancestry as Scots-Irish and the areas where our FALLIS-FOLLIS families lived in Virginia and Ohio were predominately Scots-Irish pioneers. There are old Foulis castle in Scotland Seat of the Clan Munro which has apartments you can stay in. FOWLIS Castle is near the towns of Fowlis Easter and Wester meaning east and west Fowlis. FOULIS is spelled the way we pronounce FOLLIS so I believe Scots-Irish is the correct nationality for my FOLLIS family line. The Mediterranean follis coin and old Roman ball game are discussed on my FOLLIS Trivia page raising additional questions as to the origin of our family name. FOULIS and FOWLIS are listed as Septs or smaller clans or families who lived within the Clan Munro territory. Some were related to Clan Munro and some were not. They would pay taxes to live on the land.

Immigrant FALLIS

Various researchers have compiled differing versions of the FALLIS-FOLLIS family line. My research is based on A Partial Record of the FALLIS Family in America by William Stuart FALLIS of Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia who died April 8, 1952. He believed our FALLIS families originated with "George FALLIS, a Quaker who came from Wales at the solicitation of William PENN and lived in a Quaker Colony in Pennsylvania about 1692." This information came from Montana Samuel FALLIS an architect in early Denver, Colorado who died December 6, 1939. Johanna FALLIS spouse of a descendant of Montana FALLIS names the first FALLIS emmigrant as George whose birth was in 1661 in County Antrim, Ireland, although I had never seen this before and cannot confirm it. She believes because Montana was a detail oriented architect his information should be correct, but is unconfirmed. Yet Montana told William the FALLIS famly came from Wales. So is it Ireland or Wales? The evidence indicates Ireland. I also have a revised copy of William's family tree done in 1975 by Miriam FALLIS HART which adds errors to and confuses some of the first edition.

In 1659 a Thomas FALLIS is found in Dublin, Ireland. In 1837 County Meath, Ireland, a civil parish is in the Barony of Skreen known as Follistown ⁴. Follisllagh was in County Galway on an 1885 atlas.

Colorful FALLIS / FOLLIS stories

Sam Fallis - see Robett Cape obituary, thanks to Bentley, is likely Sam H. son of B.F.Fallis and Ruth Blain of the Isaac Fallis and Susanna Martin line.

My other FOLLIS pages:

Sources and Internet Links

• Various FALLIS FOLLIS census, deeds, researcher emails, wills, estates
• Ancestry.com Members FALLIS Family Trees
• Ancestry.com Members FOLLIS Family Trees
• FALLIS Ancestry.com Message Board
• FOLLIS Ancestry.com Message Board
• FALLIS GenForum
• FOLLIS GenForum
• Search FALLIS Rootsweb
• ¹ Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4 ACPL 929.4 SM5DA
• ² A Dictionary of Surnames, by Hanks, Patricia and Hodges, Flavia ACPL 929.4 H19O.
• ³ "The Surnames of Scotland" by Dr G.F. Black ACPL 929.4 B56S
• ⁴ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, by Lewis, Samuel, ACPL 941.5003 L58T, Volume 1, 1984, page 632 - there are three different versions 1837, 1970, 1984

I include links to other FOLLIS researchers to aid in discovering the facts. Most of these web pages repeat the errors and conclusions of previous researchers without listing sources. I find no evidence for the parents of my Thomas FOLLIS although most of these links list names such as Thomas, George or Richard common in our FOLLIS family tree. I have copies of most of the same sources these researchers use and find no evidence of a name for parents of my Thomas FOLLIS.

Data Links

GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunictions) Style Family Trees

FALLIS Internet Links

FOLLIS Internet Links

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