I was born in Scotland in
1937 and came to Australia with my father and my brother in 1948.
My father James Hastings Gray
born in Glasgow in 1908 my mother Isabella Miscampbell was born in Govan in
1911 they divorced in 1945. My mother married again in 1949 to an Englishman
Arthur Sandford and stayed in England until 1964 when they too came to
Australia. I have a brother who was born in 1930 in Clydebank, I too was
born in Clydebank. We were bombed out during the war and the family was
split asunder. We all lived with different folk and I only lived with my Dad
and Brother for a few months prior to heading to Oz. My Dad worked at
Singers and Barren Strouds and had his own business for a time it was called
Accuracy. My brother worked for a short time as a junior reporter on the
Daily Mail I think I.m not too clear about that. Since coming to Oz I have
married had four children , divorced and remarried and gained another
wonderful family of four children. We now have 11 grandaughters and 3
grandsons. My grandmother, Robina Hastings Gray was a French polisher and
that always struck me as being odd until I read "The Holy City" by Meg
Henderson and these ladies worked on the llikes of the Queen Mary and the
Queen Elizabeth. My Dad had brothers-Robert George William and sisters
Margaret (Peg) and Anne. Margaret moved to Australia in 1929 and Annie moved
to Canada I don't know when. Margaret married a Douglas Graham also a Scot
prior to going to the other side of the world.
Unfortunately I can't keep in
touch with my relatives in Scotland as I have lost contact but hope one of
them might read this and get in touch. Robert Gray, my uncle had four
daughters-May Renee and Nancy and Joyce and I have no idea who they married
so can't trace them. Uncle George had two sons George and Billy. Anne had
five children and I think their surname was Pierce or Pearce and they lived
in Niagara Falls. My Auntie Annie was killed in a car accident in Canada.
Well I have waffled on enough
I trust this will be of interest to some. I forgot to mention my Dad married
again when we arrived here, his wife was also from Scotland. On reading this
over it is all disjointed sorry about that. Jane
Holmes |