Cree

Cree is a surname which has several separate origins in England, Scotland and Ireland. It occurs in all those countries today and also in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. It is of Medium Frequency in Scotland and Northern Ireland (using the benchmarks of the Guild of One-Name Studies)(Spathaky 1998). Cree surname research Prior to 1989 a few people had already researched their individual Cree ancestry in the UK (notably Brigadier Hilary Cree in Devon and members of the Yorkshire and Glasgow Cree lines). Robert H Cree in the US had spent a lifetime researching five Cree lines emanating from western Pennsylvania in the late 18th century. Cree surname research started in earnest in the UK in 1989 with the publication by Trevor Cree of a booklet listing all Cree entries from the Indexes to Birth, Marriages and Deaths (1837–1980) for England and Wales (Cree 1988). Entries from the 1988 IGI (International Genealogical Index) were also included. The surname is registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies. This triggered further genealogical research by several UK researchers. Trevor Cree continued his index extracts with the Scottish (Cree 1992) and Irish civil registrations. Development was boosted when it was realised that the spelling CRIE had been the normal spelling of the name in Scotland in the 17th and 18th Centuries.