Five Crie brothers in Perth

William Crie was probably born in the 1570s. We know little about him except that he was a burgess of Perth and a member of the Grand Muster of Council and Session of Perth, held in 1620. His five sons were born between about 1598 and 1620, and are listed as brothers in the testament (will) of one of them, Thomas Crie, who died quite young in 1654. Descendants of the five (but mainly of James Crie and his wife Isobel Fleming, married 1638) include most but not all of the prominent Cree burgesses of Perth. The five brothers were:

1. Harrie Crie was probably quite a bit older than the other four brothers. He was a tailor, unlike the others who were all glovers. We think Harrie married three times and had eight sons - and no daughters that we know of. His eldest son William Crie (c 1620-1676) became Deacon of the Tailors and, from 1664, Treasurer of Perth.

2. Thomas Crie was a glover and a burgess of Perth. Porbably born about 1610, he married Helen Dae and they had five daughters before his untimely death in 1654 when they were aged 6 to 18.

3. Patrick Crie was baptised on New Years Day 1615. He married Christian Watson and they had two sons and seven daughters. He rose to be Deacon of the Perth Guild of Glovers. Their eldest son was William Crie (b 1641), who lived at Tippermallo in Methven parish.

William Crie's eldest son John married Catherine White and had sons Hugh and William, who moved to Salineshaw in Saline parish, Fife, where they were tenants of their uncle David Cree, and James and John who were Deacons of Cordiners (Shoemakers) of Perth and Glasgow respectively. James had a son John Cree who was a merchant in Musselburgh, East Lothian. James's brother John Cree, Deacon of Cordiners in Glasgow was the founder of the the second West of Scotland Cree line

William's second son David moved to Salineshaw in Saline parish, Fife, where he appears to have had as tenants his nephews Hugh, William and Thomas Crie. We don't know who Thomas was but Hugh and William were further sons of his brother John Crie and Catherine White.

William Crie's third son was Patrick Crie (1669-1740) was, as far as we know, the first Crie to migrate to the West of Scotland. He married Marie Watson in Glasgow and became a merchant there and Master of Work of the Burgh and founded the first West of Scotland Cree line

4. James Crie was probably born in about 1617. He married Isobel Fleming in Edinburgh, but they settled in Perth where he too was a glover. It is their line that continues to the present day.

Their eldest son, James Crie (1639-1710) was a merchant, Burgh Treasurer, Dean of the Merchant Guild and, between 1692 and 1708 was six times Provost of Perth. He married Isobel Blair in about 1675 and the third of their many sons, John Crie, was the father of John Cree (1707-1796), founder of the dynasty of the Cree Nurserymen of Lanarkshire and Surrey. Many of his descendants still lived in the Perth area within living memory.

Two other sons of James Crie and Isobel Blair were Provosts seventeen times between them from 1732 to 1758. They were Patrick, a merchant, (whose daughter Christian Crie married yet another Provost of Perth, William Stewart) and James, a surgeon.

A gravestone in Greyfriars Burying Ground in Perth reads:
To the memory of Patrick Cree, Esq., who died 17th March 1754 aged 70 years. And of William Stewart Esq., his son-in-law, who died 27th October 1786 aged 76 years, the former having been 7 times, the latter 11 times elected Provosts of Perth. Both were remarkable for loyalty to their sovereign. For an impartial administration of justice to their fellow citizens. For integrity and honour, and for Christian piety. This stone was erected in testimony of regard and affectionate remembrance of her Father and her Husband, by Christian Stewart, the daughter and widow, who died March 1795, aged 76 years.

Other sons of James Crie and Isobel Blair seem to have moved to the Abernethy area in the 1690s, perhaps to escape religious or political constraints following the upheavals of 1688-89. Cree families continued at Abernethy as salmon fishers and innkeepers for several generations. The name lives on there at the Crees Inn although the last Cree innkeeper died in 1911. Other descendants moved back to Perth where several were stonemasons.

5. John Crie was known as "the elder" to distinguish him from his son John Crie the younger, as both were glovers and prominent in burgh affairs. John Crie the elder was born in 1620. He too was a glover and a burgess of Perth and in about 1637 married Elspeth Gairdner. They had nine children. Their eldest daughter Christian Crie married Walter Faichney, also a glover, who became Treasurer of Perth, Dean of Guilds and Town Bailie. Their son George Faichney married his first cousin Margaret Crie, daughter of John Crie the younger. The Faichney family remained prominent in Burgh affairs with another George and an Alexander Faichney becoming Provosts of Perth in the period 1778-1797.

John Crie the younger, also a glover and burgess, married Cecil Paton and their son John Cree (c1672-1718) became Library Keeper and later Clerk to the University of St Andrews.