Contents [hide]

Crew History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Motto Citations

Crew History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The ancestry of the name Crew dates from the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. It comes from when the family lived as dwellers at a cattle-pen or cattle-fold. 1

Early Origins of the Crew family

The surname Crew was first found in Cheshire where the "ancestors of Lord Crewe were Lords of Crewe, co. Chester, 13 Edward I." (during the thirteenth year of King Edward I's reign.) 2

Today, Crewe is a township, in the parish of Barthomley, union and hundred of Nantwich in Cheshire. "It has been the inheritance of the Crewe family from a very early period. The Hall, the seat of Lord Crewe, exhibits a good specimen of the more enriched style of architecture which prevailed in the early part of the 17th century: it was begun in 1615, and completed in 1636, and the ceilings and wainscots of many of the rooms, and the principal staircase, retain their original decorations. The gallery, a hundred feet in length, is fitted up as a library, and contains a number of family portraits, and fine pictures: the mansion has also a private chapel, where divine service is performed every Sunday morning, and where is a large painting of the Last Supper, with two beautiful specimens of ancient stained glass. " 3

Looking back further researchers found the name actually dates back to Norman times as "Crewe was in the barony of Malbanc, and was possessed c. 1150 by Henry de Criwa, who attested a charter of Hugh Malbanc. Sire Thomas de Crue was living after 1241. Hence the Lords Crewe of Stene, maternally represented by the Lords Crewe." 4

Early History of the Crew family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Crew research. Another 175 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1558, 1565, 1598, 1623, 1624, 1625, 1633, 1634, 1646, 1656, 1671, 1674, 1679, 1697 and 1721 are included under the topic Early Crew History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Crew Spelling Variations

Spelling variations in names were a common occurrence before English spelling was standardized a few hundred years ago. In the Middle Ages, even the literate spelled their names differently as the English language incorporated elements of French, Latin, and other European languages. Many variations of the name Crew have been found, including Crewe, Crew, Croux, Crewes, Creuse and others.

Early Notables of the Crew family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

Sir Randulphe or Randolph Crew or Crewe (1558-1646), English judge, second son of John Crew of Nantwich, who is said to have been a tanner
Sir Thomas Crewe (or Crew) (1565-1634), of Stene in Northamptonshire, an English Member of Parliament and lawyer, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1623 to 1625
John Crew, 1st Baron Crew of Stene (1598-1679), an English lawyer and politician
Thomas Crew, 2nd Baron Crew (1624-1697), an English politician, Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire in 1656

Crew Ranking

In the United States, the name Crew is the 8,148^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 5

Crew migration to the United States +

Families began migrating abroad in enormous numbers because of the political and religious discontent in England. Often faced with persecution and starvation in England, the possibilities of the New World attracted many English people. Although the ocean trips took many lives, those who did get to North America were instrumental in building the necessary groundwork for what would become for new powerful nations. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America bore the name Crew, or a variant listed above:

Crew Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Joseph Crew, who landed in Virginia in 1620 aboard the ship "London Merchant" 6
Randall Crew, aged 20, who arrived in Virginia in 1621 aboard the ship "Charles" 6
Robert Crew, aged 23, who landed in Virginia in 1623 aboard the ship "Marmaduke" 6
Joshua Crew, who arrived in Virginia in 1623 6
John Crew, who arrived in Virginia in 1640 6
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Crew Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Simon Crew, aged 34, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1742 6
Martin Crew, who settled in Maryland in 1774 with his wife Mary

Crew Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Francis Crew, aged 32, who arrived in New York in 1812 6
Charles Crew, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1871 6
Mr. Richard Crew, (b. 1849), aged 41, Cornish clergy departing from Liverpool aboard the ship "Etruria" arriving in the United States on 16 June 1890 7

Crew migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Crew Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

William Crew, English convict from Middlesex, who was transported aboard the "Albion" on May 29, 1828, settling in New South Wales, Australia 8
Mr. William Crew, (b. 1805), aged 29, English dealer who was convicted in Middlesex, England for 14 years for receiving stolen goods, transported aboard the "Bengal Merchant" on 27th September 1834, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 9
Mr. George Crew, British Convict who was convicted in Surrey, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Asia" on 20th July 1837, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 10
Mr. James Crew, English convict who was convicted in London, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Eden" on 30th September 1848, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Island) 11
Susannah Crew, aged 25, a cook, who arrived in South Australia in 1855 aboard the ship "Mallard" 12

Crew migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 13

Crew Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Marie Crew, aged 19, who landed in Barbados in 1635 aboard the ship "Falcon" 6
William Crew, who settled in Barbados in 1660

Contemporary Notables of the name Crew (post 1700) +

Mr. Nathan Crew O.B.E., British Lieutenant Colonel for the Royal Logistic Corps, recipient of Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 8th June 2018 14
Mrs. James Crew Reynolds, American Republican politician, Member of Republican National Committee from Wyoming, 1940 15

The Crew Motto +

The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.

Motto: Sequor nec inferior
Motto Translation: I follow, but am not inferior.

Citations +

Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks. (Retrieved 2018, April 30). Emigrants to New York 1820 - 1891 [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/pdfs/emigration_new_york_1820_1891.pdf
State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2014, November 24) Albion voyage to New South Wales, Australia in 1828 with 192 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/albion/1828
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 7th October 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/bengal-merchant
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 7th February 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/asia/1837
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 15th November 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/eden
South Australian Register Thursday 26th April 1855. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) Mallard 1855. Retrieved http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/mallard1855.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
"Birthday and New Year Honours Lists (1940 to 2019)." Issue 62507, 28 December 2018 | London Gazette, The Gazette, Dec. 2018, www.thegazette.co.uk/honours-lists
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 10) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html