Crews and Crew distribution in the USA

Howard Mathieson, one of my colleagues from the Guild of One-Name Studies in Canada, has a special interest in surname mapping and has much useful information on his Geogenealogy website. Howard has recently been working on some mapping tools for the US and has very kindly sent me the map shown below showing the distribution of the surnames Crew and Crews in the USA (click on the map to enlarge it). The main focus of my research in the USA to date has been on the surnames Cruse and Crews, and I have not had time to investigate the surname Crew. In some of the earliest records in Virginia the name Crew seems to have been more prevalent and it would appear that the names Crews and Cruse evolved from Crew in the US. Howard's maps show that the names Crew and Crews overlap to some extent in the south-eastern states but there are some unique clusters of the Crew surname in the north and north-east. The south and westward spread of the surname Crews from its US origin in Virginia can clearly be seen.

© Debbie Kennett 2012.  Map ©Howard Mathieson 2012.