Frances Wilson Grayson (c. 1892 – c. December 23, 1927) was an American woman who disappeared flying to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

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#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. 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 f ...

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 P ...

.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, 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 ...

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 ...

, where she graduated from Muncie High School in Muncie. 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 = List of sovereign states, Count ...

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 Roc ...

. 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 Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...

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, Ma ...

, 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 Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. stat ...

, 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 agen ...

. 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 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 Oskar Omdal (October 11, 1895 – December 23, 1927) was a lieutenant and pilot in the Royal Norwegian Navy. Biography He was born at Kristiansand in Vest-Agder, Norway. He attended the Technical School at Porsgrunn. He graduated from ...

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 ai ...

from the

Dominion of Newfoundland Newfoundland was a British dominion in eastern North America, today the modern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was established on 26 September 1907, and confirmed by the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the Statute of Wes ...

. 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 Curtiss Airport may refer to: * LaGuardia Airport, known as Glenn H. Curtiss Airport from 1930 to 1939 * Roosevelt Field (airport), a former airport in Garden City, New York, that was once named Curtiss Field * Columbia Field, a former airport in V ...

on Long Island,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, on the evening of December 23, 1927, bound for

Harbor Grace Harbour Grace is a town in Conception Bay on the Avalon Peninsula in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. With roots dating back to the 16th century, it is one of the oldest towns in North America. It is located about northwest o ...

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 En ...

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 A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor gen ...

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