Crosier Site Introduction  

“The Crosiers came frae Liddesdale
They herry Redesdale far and near
But they have lost a gallant lad
And Quinton Crosier was his name”

“The Death of Parcy Reed” collected by Sir F. J. Child 1846

In the Middle Ages the croce or pastoral staff became part of the vestments of Catholic Prelates. The cleric who bore it was called the croce-er, or croyser. The Norman Conquest of the British Isles ushered in the use of surnames. Many of these surnames were from the location, trade or occupation of the individual. In the Anglo-Scots border region the station of Croyser was passed down by secular clerics from father to son by at least 1275.

This group of lay clerics was well educated for the times and a heritage of erudite individuals followed, sheriffs, knights, keepers, acedemics, more clerics, barristers, bailiffs, land and manor owners ensued. As the holdings of the Croysers increased by purchase, marriage, royal favour and papal largess, the name spread, albeit sparsely, from the borders and northern England to manors and lands sprinkled about the south.

On the Anglo-Scots border the constant strife between Scotland and England with its rampant destruction of Church and civil structures and intermittent warfare developed into the culture of raiding and pillaging that became the Border Reiving way of life. The Croser grayne was there right at its’ epicenter, in Liddesdale, Bewcastle, and Hawick.

And then it ended. 1603, James VI of Scotland became James I of England - and he was exasperated. Within ten years the Border Reivers, what was left of them, became Mosstroopers, warriors trying to cling to a lost way of life. The Border Reivers were dispersed, gone to Ulster Plantation, enlisted as mercenaries in the Low Countries, migrated south into England, or hung.

In Northern Ireland was a land of opportunity, and continued strife. Conflict with the landowners, clashes with the native Catholic Irish, rebellion and civil war. The old Border Reivers had a lot of kids, and now they were Presbyterians, and they needed to move on. In the early 1700’s they began to arrive by the shipload in the new world, Barbados, Virginia, Carolina, Pennsylvania, and the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Our Crosiers were there, living the American dream in Boston, Pelham, and Halifax, then Washington County, N.Y. and Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania and on. And now here we are trying to figure out how it all happened.

This section of the website will attempt to provide the history and tell the story of the Crosiers. This may be done by DNA testing. We will provide what has been done to date with this new form of genealogy research and will encourage others who are interested to get involved which will possibly link other Crosier lines to ours. Thanks to Charles Crosier for providing his thoughts, research, and inspiration for creating this section of my genealogy site. As sections of the Crosier site are added, a link will be provided.