Paroz Family History

Note: The following is a very basic history of the Paroz family.   I will add to this from time to time, so please send any information to me by email.  The emphasis at this time is on the Paroz family around Sydney, as this is the branch of the family that I am part of.

Origins

The Paroz family in Australia has its ancestry in the villages of the commune of Saicourt, in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. 

Previously hailing from France, the family was one of a number of Huguenot families that relocated to Switzerland during the Reformation period of French history.

We have used the name of Choulat (pronounced "tschoula") in our genealogical records to indicate the branch of the family from which we are descended.  However, the name Choulat is a sort of nickname or a qualifier given to indicate the line of descent from the original families - there are three branches of the Paroz family still resident in Switzerland - the Choulat, Chepi and Bacouna branches.  There are even more branches apparent when reading some of the old Swiss records.

For more information you can visit "le surnom Paroz" at http://www.istanbulguide.net/paroz.htm

The word Choulat is not a surname. However we use it in our computerised files to distinguish the families where intermarriage between branches of the Paroz families over the generations can cause confusion for those of us just learning about the origins of the families.

We have used the name in our data for families prior to Isaac Paroz (1770-1830) where the branch is known.

An interesting family tree has been sent to us by Sylvain Paroz in Switzerland. This tree was compiled by Rene Paroz in 1964 and traces in part the descent of several lines of the Choulat lines of the Paroz family.

Moving to Australia

In 1874, Ulysse Paroz (1831-1899), along with his wife Fleurine and 9 of their 11 children, emigrated to Australia aboard the steamship Zoroaster.  The ship arrived in Brisbane on 25th September, 1874 and Ulysse, Fleurine and their children left the ship and then travelled on to Ma Ma Creek to take up a land selection adjacent to Ulysse's sister Elise.

Elise Paroz had married Friedrich August Juillerat and they had emigrated with 2 of their children in 1871. 

The Sydney Paroz Family

Ulysse's eldest son, Fleury Ulysse (1856-1932) was 18 when he arrived in Australia. He continued onto Sydney, married Margaret Dymock and had 6 children.  Although Fleury and Margaret had 4 sons, only 1 (Frank U. Paroz, b. 1886) appears to have had any male children to carry on the family name.

Another son, Humbert Roland Paroz (1866-1937) joined his elder brother in Sydney at some point in time, and married Ada Keen.  There is no record of Humbert and Ada having any surviving children.

If you take a look at a phone book, there are few Paroz listings in and around Sydney, but a much larger number around Brisbane and South East Queensland.  This is largely explained by the very origins above.  In fact, to my knowledge, neither of the 2 Paroz listings in the current (1999) Sydney White Pages are descended from this lineage - they must be ring ins from Queensland.  Rest assured though, there are others of us in Sydney, we're just not listed.

Links

Frank Adcock, a distant cousin in Queensland, maintains a great website on geneology - this has a comprehensive listing of members of the Paroz family, tracing back several centuries to Switzerland.

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