Miscellaneous Cree families in EnglandThe surname Cree pops up in unexpected places. By and large there are very few Cree families anywhere in England before the Reformation. Those few are listed on our England pre-1572 Archives page. However there are odd occurrences in the following hundred years or so and it is a mystery how they occur, simply because they are so few and far between. In most cases we cannot connect them to known lines because there are no lines to connect them to until the Derbyshire line starts in 1643. For completeness they are listed on this Miscellaneous page in the hope that connections will eventually be found. |
|
Bedfordshire
CREE, John, son of John Cree, bap. 31 Mar 1673, Thurleigh, Beds. BerkshireSarah Cree, married Thomas Neighbour, 3 Oct 1743, Hurley, Berks. BuckinghamshireGrace Cree married George Hall, 1 Nov 1677, Datchet, Bucks. CambridgeshireJane Eleanor Cree, dau. of John Cree, bap. 27 Feb 1731, Knapwell, Cambs. William Cree was baptised in 1578, Holy Trinity, Cambridge. Susannah Cree married Stephanus [Stephen] Key, 23 Jul 1598, Saint Botolph, Cambridge. Susannah Cree married Nathanil [sic] Hardie, 15 Sep 1669, Saint Botolph, Cambridge. DorsetRoger Cree and Ann Norenton, mar. 25 Nov 1611, Charminster, Dorset. (Source: IGI, Extracted marriage record for locality listed in the record.) EssexIn 1561 John Cree, warden of Leaden Roothing, was able to assure the court that "the church books be defaced and sold... Leaden Roothing is the modern parish of Leaden Roding. It is about 16 km (10 miles) from Henham where Joan de Creye was the feoffee in 1291. See the 1267-1315: Sir Simon and Sir William de Creye page. (Source: Elizabethan Life: Morals and the Church Courts by Dr F G Emmison, p 180.) John Cree and Elizabeth Herbert, of this parish [of Chelmsford, Essex], after banns published, married 10 Nov [1688] (Source: Phillimore's Parish Register Series Vol. 142 (Essex, Vol. 2, Chelmsford), London, 1912, p 92.) Lancashire
Mary Crie ye [...] xvij of June
(Sources: Anglican Parish Registers. Manchester, England: Manchester Libraries This is a very isolated occurrence of the surname and therefore is a mystery. The spelling CRIE is virtually unknown in England and had yet to be adopted in Scotland. Yet it is cognate with the spelling of, say, Januarie, in the same parish register (on the previous page). At that time the mainstream (Perthshire) spelling was CRE and the CRIE form had yet to be adopted. This Lancashire occurrence may therefore represent the same transitional spelling as occurred in Scotland but at an earlier date. Note that we have a contemporaneous occurrence of the CREE spelling in southern England in 1561. (See above section, Essex: Leaden Roothing.) For further discussion of spelling variants of CREE see Spellings of the surname Cree. Lincolnshire1. CREE, Willm [William], son of Thomas Cree baptised 28 June 1621, Doddington. (Source: IGI, Extracted birth or christening record for locality listed in the record.) It is interesting that the spelling is Cree even this early. In England we have not found the spelling CRIE which was not generally supplanted by CREE in Scotland until the ninteenth century.
2. John Cree (Source: "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NRR6-2YB : accessed 16 October 2015), John Cree, 12 Mar 1625; citing Fiskerton, Lincoln, England, reference item 3; FHL microfilm 1,450,401.
3. Edward Cree (Source: "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N6C5-KQS : accessed 16 October 2015), Edward Cree, 24 Aug 1629; citing Fiskerton, Lincoln, England, reference item 3; FHL microfilm 1,450,401. The father's name is Thomas Cree in all three cases, the distance between Fiskerton and Doddington is only 20 km (12 miles) - they are either side of Lincoln - and the dates within an eight years span. It seems probable therefore that these three baptisms are of brothers. This might suggest an alternative origin for the Bolsover Cree line but further evidence would be needed to establish this. Bolsover is leass than 60 km (38 miles) from Doddington and the first Cree record there is in 1678 (with earlier Mackree events in 1643 and 1644). NottinghamTrevor Cree has found an interesting Cree christening record in relatively close proximity to Bolsover. It appears to be St Mary's, Nottingham, and by coincidence is just a few weeks earlier than William Cree.
Name: Emyne Cree
Source Citation: Place: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England; SurreyAbraham Cree baptised 22 Dec 1644, Egham, Surrey, son of Thomas Cree. (Source: IGI, Extracted birth or christening record for locality listed in the record.) Odds and endsThere are some possible Cree variants around in seventeenth century England, such as:
These are quoted here because they are a geographical cluster around Spalding and one of the surnames is given as KREE. Without any evidence of a continuing, viable Cree population associated with these individuals it is difficult to justify any claim that their names are variants of Cree. The surname Cray is widespread though not common in England and is thought to be normally a separate surname, even though it has occurred occasionally as a variant of Cree. |
|