As we trace Cree genealogies back in time, the Scottish ones all give one of two results. Either they come to a stop, beyond which further progress seems difficult, or they lead back to the area around the ancient burgh of Perth,

And those that come to a stop outside Perthshire never take us back earlier than the 1690s. Some come to a blank wall at a much later date. But it is difficult to find any Cree records outside Perthshire before 1690

In and around Perth, however it is clear that there were perhaps a couple of dozen families bearing the name Cree (in its various spellings) for many years before 1690. The main locations where they were found were Perth itself and the two parishes immediately to its west, Methven and Tibbermore. In Methven we can identify about thirteen Cree family units (a couple and at least one child) during the period of a generation from 1694 to 1720 so this was probably the main centre of the Cree population. In 1694, the Hearth Tax records shows that there were also Cree families in Aberdalgie, Forteviot and St Martins.

Going back through the seventeenth century, evidence from parish registers dries up but we can trace several Cree families in Perth itself going back to the 1610s. There are isolated occurrences of the name Cree in other parishes such as Errol, a few miles east of Perth, and Kinglassie, a few miles to the south, which is actually in the neighbouring county of Fife. One James Crie in Perth, went off to Edinburgh and married there in 1638 but came back to settle in Perth. There is an earlier family in the capital around 1620.

Before 1610 evidence now comes more from deeds and other records. Although highly selective in the families involved, the documents in the Perth Burgh Book of Deeds suggest that several individuals named Cree were merchants in Perth before 1600 and that they had close connections with Cree families at the farmtoun of Easter Cultmalindie in the parish of Tibbermore back to 1570.

Going back even further we are left with isolated occurences of the name. However the merchant status of some Cree individuals around 1600 is of great significance. For as early as 1459 and 1462 and also in Perth, we also find records of a John of Cre, merchant.

This leads us to the tentative conclusion that the Cree surname in Scotland originated in the Perth area. For further discussion of its possible origin see Spelling Variations of the Scottish surname Cree.