Creighton Family Crest
"In 1937, one John B. Creighton, a descendant of the founders of Creighton University, wrote to the institution's president, the Reverend Thomas Bowdern, S.J., and recommended an artist to paint the family coat of arms for the school's President's Room. He identified the crest through genealogy and heraldry, and traced it to a family of Scottish aristocrats who migrated to Ireland in the seventeenth century. Fr. Bowdern commissioned the work; however, the original surname of the founders of the University was not Creighton." (Mihelich, 3)
What's In A Name
Creighton University owes it's name to the Creighton family, but what are the origins of the Creighton surname? It was long believed that the Creighton family lineage could be traced to a family of Scottish aristocrats who migrated to Ireland. However, later investigations shed light on the fact that Edward Creighton and John Creighton were in fact not decesendents of these Scotish nobleman. Rather, the name evolved when their father moved to America.
Edward and John's father, James Creighton, was an Irish laborer who immigrated to America in 1805. Ship manifest records from that passage reveal that James Creighton was in fact James McCrarin.
The name change from McCrarin to Creighton is most likely due to James' brother Christopher. Christopher and the rest of the family followed James to America and many ended up settling in Ohio. Christopher married Margaret McKiggan and upon converting to her Methodist faith, changed his surname to Creighton.
The Creighton name was slowly adopted, but by the 1840 Census the whole family lived in southern Ohio and had adopted the Creighton name.