The Gray surname is of Scottish or Irish origin with a Gaelic source, according to Wikipedia. It would be an Anglicization of another name. However, our Mary Jane Rachel Gray was born in England, according to her death certificate. The English Grays have a Norman origination, stemming from the town of Grayes in Calvados, France. House of Names.com said that the name was ” first found in Northumberland where they were seated from very early times and were granted lands from William Duke of Normandy, their liege lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.”
It’s with many thanks to Sharon Grady for testing at 23andMe, that we were able to find a cousin, Susan Eubank, who broke through a bit of the brick wall surrounding the Grays! A BIG shout out to all cousins who will go through the DNA testing, either at 23andME or (even better!) familytreedna or at ancestry. We are beginning to learn to unravel the secrets of the autosomal dna and figure our common ancestors and break through the persistent brick walls in the research.
For a bio. of our immigrant ancestor, Mary Jane Rachel Gray, please check out this page.