Current genealogical research has already established that a group of Creer families, recorded as originating on the Isle of Man (IOM), [a small island situated in the North Sea between Northern England and Ireland], were at least present on the Island from around 1500. A number of distinct Creer family trees have been identified and recorded covering the period 1600-2005 and a database of some 19,000 Creer family history events (births, marriages and deaths) from around the world has been assembled.

Some 70% of these events have been identified and attributed to individual distinguishable Creer family groups (n=60), all being traced back to origins in the IOM. Hence today there is a relatively clear picture of how different Creer families have emigrated from the IOM and scattered around the world to a number of countries including England, the USA, Australia and Canada. No significant migration occurred until the early 1800's and prior to that, for at least 300 years, the Creer families were born and died almost exclusively on this small island.

The earliest, surviving, written records show that in 1511 there were only 7-8 Creer families (at that time McCrere) on the IOM, all living no more than 5 miles from each other. Current genealogical research is examining the early land records of that time, to try and understand :- 

This current research is proving slow and difficult owing to the age of such records, their inaccessibility, incompleteness and lack of detail.

Furthermore there are now two conflicting theories as to where the McCreres came from before 1400. The conventional belief is that they were indigenous to the IOM and descendants of the Celts and Vikings that occupied the Island in earlier years, in common with most Manx people - but the alternative theory is that they were descendants of the Galloway Scots, and came over from neighbouring Scotland in around 1400 - as the presence of the McCrerie name in Galloway at that time might suggest. No documentary sources remain which might help resolve this question.

More information on Creer family history is available from www.ballacreer.com