First found in the county of Cumberland, where they held a family seat from very ancient times after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 A.D. They were descended from one of two noble houses, the Lords D'Acre, called D'Acres of the North, and Lord D'Acre of Herstmonceux, called D'Acres of the South. Both of these noble branches originally settled at Dacre in Cumberland.

Faced with the chaos present in England at that time, many English families looked towards the open frontiers of the New World with its opportunities to escape oppression and starvation. People migrated to North America, as well as Australia and Ireland in droves, paying exorbitant rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, but those who did see the shores of North America were welcomed with great opportunity. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name Acre, or a variant listed above: Henry Acres(sometimes Ackers) who settled in Newbury Massachusetts in 1674, and married Hannah Silver; Henry Eakers, who settled in Philadelphia in 1738.

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