Frances Wilson Grayson (c. 1892 – c. December 23, 1927) was an American woman who disappeared flying to Newfoundland just before her attempt to cross the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. She was a niece of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

.Jackson, Joe, ''Atlantic Fever: Lindbergh, His Competitors, and the Race to Cross the Atlantic''
New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2012, , p. 414.

Biography

Grayson was born as Frances Wilson in

Cherokee Village, Arkansas Cherokee Village is a city in Fulton and Sharp counties in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The population was 4,671 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population of 4,661 in 2019. Geography Cherokee Village is located at (36.293289, -91.572336). ...

, to Andrew Jackson "A.J." Wilson and Minnie M. Lewis. She had two brothers: Walter M. Wilson later became a grocer in Muncie, Indiana. The other, Roscoe Jesse "Jack" Wilson died young (before 1924). In 1896, the family moved from

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, where she graduated from Muncie High School in

Muncie Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the seat of Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs/lenape-villages.pdf It is located in ...

. She next attended the Chicago Musical College in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. Her plan was to accompany her brother "Jack", who planned to be a professional singer. When her brother died she stopped studying music. She then attended Swarthmore College in Swarthmore,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, for recitation and dramatic arts. At Swarthmore College, she met John Brady Grayson, and they married on September 15, 1914. They divorced with no children after nine years. Frances Grayson then moved to Manhattan, New York City, where she was a writer for a newspaper. She then became a

real estate agent A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

. While in Manhattan, Grayson became interested in aviation and in the idea of making a flight across the

. She bought a new

Sikorsky S-36 The Sikorsky S-36 was an eight-seat amphibian sesquiplane designed and built by the Sikorsky Manufacturing Company in the late 1920s. The aircraft was ordered by Pan American Airways, the start of a long association with Sikorsky flying boats.Be ...

amphibian plane, which she named ''Dawn'', and received financing for the flight from Mrs. Aage Ancker. She recruited

Royal Norwegian Navy The Royal Norwegian Navy ( no, Sjøforsvaret, , Sea defence) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for naval operations of Norway. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 in mobilized state, ...

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

Oskar Omdal to serve as the aircraft's pilot, Brice Goldsborough as its

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

, and Frank Koehler as its radio engineer. They made plans to begin the

transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Central America, or South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing air ...

from the Dominion of Newfoundland. Omdal was to fly the plane across the Atlantic, although Grayson may have planned to perform some of the flying herself.

Disappearance

The four took off from Curtiss Field on Long Island, New York, on the evening of December 23, 1927, bound for Harbor Grace in Newfoundland. They radioed that something was wrong later in the evening and never reached Newfoundland; their remains were never found. Their plane probably went down in the Atlantic off

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

during a storm. Grayson was 35 years old at the time of her death.

Legacy

In 1928, the

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Surveyor General named a number of lakes in the northwest of the province to honour aviators who had perished during 1927, mainly in attempting oceanic flights. p 14. These include Goldsborough Lake (), Grayson Lake () and Omdahl Lake () which are in close proximity to each other in the

Wabakimi Provincial Park Wabakimi Provincial Park is a wilderness park located to the northwest of Lake Nipigon and northwest of Armstrong Station in the province of Ontario, Canada. The park contains a vast and interconnected network of more than 2,000 kilometres of l ...

References

External links

Bernice Walker's Photo Album, 1928

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grayson, Frances Wilson 1890s births 1920s missing person cases 1927 deaths Missing aviators Missing person cases in Canada People from Fulton County, Arkansas People lost at sea Swarthmore College alumni Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1927 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Canada Year of birth uncertain American women aviators

Biography

Disappearance

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links