Scottish Ancestors in Vaudeville.....

[Allison]

Good evening everyone!
Can anyone tell me how I would track down ancestors who were born in Scotland but eventually ended up in the USA singing on the vaudeville circuit. My great-grandmother, Jane Gray, took her daughters and son to America and put them on stage as the "Singing Grays".

My aunt gave me a news article which mentions her and the group as doing the vaudeville circuit but I don't know where to go with this. My mother has a photograph album full of autographed stage pictures of the Gray family in kilts, glengarries, etc. I have the names of my grandmother (Violet Allison Gray), as well as aunts and uncle and they were all born in Scotland and grew up there (Perth and Dundee areas).

Anyone have ideas as to where to look to see if they ever performed in Scotland as well as other countries?

Allison

Looking for Brown, Gillespie, McDougall, McLachlan, Gray, Hall

[DavidWW]

Good evening everyone!
Can anyone tell me how I would track down ancestors who were born in Scotland but eventually ended up in the USA singing on the vaudeville circuit. My great-grandmother, Jane Gray, took her daughters and son to America and put them on stage as the "Singing Grays".

My aunt gave me a news article which mentions her and the group as doing the vaudeville circuit but I don't know where to go with this. My mother has a photograph album full of autographed stage pictures of the Gray family in kilts, glengarries, etc. I have the names of my grandmother (Violet Allison Gray), as well as aunts and uncle and they were all born in Scotland and grew up there (Perth and Dundee areas).

Anyone have ideas as to where to look to see if they ever performed in Scotland as well as other countries?

Allison

Looking for Brown, Gillespie, McDougall, McLachlan, Gray, Hall

Allison

Have you tried a good Google on the basis of the names involved - I'd be disappointed if you didn't get a number of appropriate hits !!!

Davie

[eheilmann]

I think you are talking about my family! I am just starting on my family tree. My mother was Edith Porter. Her grandmother was Jane Gray (Maw). Her mother Lydia Gray was the only child not in the act. I don't think they perfomed in Scotland. The family moved to Winnipeg Canada and the family stated to perfom in USO type shows in Canada. They later moved to New York. I have some very basic info on all the Grays. If you want to send me an email, I can foward what I have to you.
eheilmann AT fuse.net


email edited to prevent spam. Please change AT to @...Anne H

[Allison]

Yes!!! =D> It is one and the same family.

I have a little more than just basic information on the family tree. Courtesy of a cousin in Western Canada as well as an elderly aunt, it has been confirmed that the Gray Family did not perform in Scotland but in the USA and Canada. But I also have census information, etc. which I would be more than willing to share. My cousin, Kathy, also has done an incredible amount of work on the Gray side of the family tree, if you wish to know more.

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Allison

[Anne H]

Hi eheilmann

Welcome to TalkingScot. How wonderful to make a connection with your first post.

Hope to see more of you.

Regards,
Anne H

[Currie]

I don’t know if this has anything to do with anything but there was a “Gray Family” of singers and dancers, consisting of Madge, Ruth, Dolly, Alice (Mazie?), and two brothers performing on Vaudeville in Canada and the US during late 1920s and 1930s. http://news.google.com/archivesearch?as ... _scoring=a

Alan

[eheilmann]

We are all talking about the same family. I think the quesionable name is Maisie - a family name. There was only one boy that I know of and his name was Leonard.

[Currie]

Back again Eheilmann,

Here are some more newspaper items that you may find interesting if you haven’t seen them before.

The Morning leader, 10 September,1925 – Gray Kiddies, five talented girls and a boy, father blinded during the War, mother has borne 11 children.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BQ ... dies&hl=en

Edmonton journal, 12 September, 1925 – Gray family hails from Winnipeg, father blinded and eldest son killed WW1, Maizie is the youngest.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0u ... mily&hl=en

Toledo News-Bee, 10 May, 1933 – Mother Gray manages etc Leonard, Madge, Ruth, Dolly, Maizie, and the other one, prettiest of all. She has nine girls and two boys. She was a concert singer in the old country, is almost 70 now. Oldest daughter is 40 with five girls and four boys etc.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=j5 ... mily&hl=en

Hope that’s useful,
Alan

[eheilmann]

Hi Alan,

Thank you so much for the newspaper links. My aunt Ruth is the youngest child of Lydia Gray Porter who was one of the two Gray children who were not in the act. She said there was a second man named Herbie in the act, but he was not related. Later, he left and Helen joined the act, making five girls and one boy - all children of Jane Gray. My mom called her Maw and called her grandfather Father with a long a.

Edith

[eheilmann]

I am still hoping to get in contact with Allison and her cousin to share information on the Gray family of vaudeville.
Edith