Thanks for sharing.

Susan, how interesting! Do you have memories of her....did you hear her sing?

What wonderful ancestry. She must have had a beautiful voice. Did any of you inherit her talent?

How lovely! Now you have to tell us...the rest of the story! I doubt she continued to be a "Miss" much longer, pretty thing!

Sorry I'm late responding to your nice comments. I was sick all last night and part of today. Ugh.

You're right, Chisue, Alice didn't remain a "Miss" very long. The pretty Scottish Presbyterian soprano (who, by the way, ran away from home at 16 to go on the stage) married the handsome Jewish baritone pictured here. I have a large print of this picture hanging above my piano.

Harry had several siblings who made a name for themselves in music. He died of a heart attack at 61, and she went to work managing a hotel for women in Manhattan. Later, she lived with us while I was growing up, and that was wonderful for me--but not so wonderful for any of us as we watched her sad decline into Alzheimer's.

She lost her memory, but never lost her voice. We all (my dad, me, my children) inherited the ability to sing and play music by ear. For a number of years when he was very young, my dad lived at the Choir School of St. John the Divine in NYC. To his relief (he always wanted to go home), the school lost interest in him when he became an adolescent and his voice changed.

Thanks to Facebook and a generous KT member who belongs to Ancestry.com, last year I found a cousin from Alice's side of the family: the great-granddaughter of Alice's sister Anna. I had no idea this cousin existed, but had always wondered what had happened to her mother, whom I lost track of when she was a little girl. Turns out she had great musical talent and played the violin with the New York Philharmonic when she was only eight years old!

So sorry you're sick. Let's hope it passes quickly.

Such a charming review of the young Miss Campbell. I knew about grandfather's operatic career but I don't remember you posting about your grandmother. What a wonderful musical heritage.

Do you know what her family did when she ran away from home for a stage career?

Susan, I'm already hooked......when is the book coming out? I'm not kidding.

My mother's maiden name was Alice Campbell, the same as your grandmother's name.

Oh, sorry you've been sick! Thanks for filling in your grandmother's story for us. I'm happy to hear the musical talent continued down the line.

Alisande, you need to write her biography-
or, better maybe, write a historic novel based on her life!

My dad was so good about telling family stories, etc., but now I can think of so many things I wish I'd asked him. He spoke often about Alice's sisters (his Aunt Anna and Aunt Margaret), but never mentioned her parents. They were Scottish immigrants, and I learned from the 1880 census that they were Margaret and George (a servant), parents of six children.

Growing up, I was close to my father's cousin Peggy, daughter of Aunt Margaret. It never occurred to me to ask her about her parents or grandparents. Who knew we would become so interested in genealogy and family history when we got (much, much) older?

Maire, my newly-found cousin was told Alice's parents were very upset when she left, but her sisters kept in touch with her. I guess that means the parents did not? Maybe they did later.

My dad never mentioned his paternal grandparents either. That was another hugely musical family. I just assume the musical talent was handed down from my great-grandfather (an assumption that makes no sense), but when I followed the family line back to England I found not musicians, but caterers and the Lyons Tea Company. This might explain my family's obsession with food. :-)

So then I suspected the musicality came from my great-grandmother, but with a name like Phillips I didn't think I'd get very far tracing it. And I didn't. But thanks to FindAGrave, I encountered my distant cousin Roderick, who has done a professional job of tracing his family line--which includes my great-grandmother!

Turned out the Phillips name started out as something quite different--a Polish name, as she was born in a part of Prussia that is now Poland. And Roderick tells me the family is quite musical. A mystery solved.

Linda, I meant to add that when I was a child she told me her name was Alison. Her stage name was Alice, and she's listed as Alice on the census. But I do remember her telling me that. I'd planned to name my first daughter Alison....until I found out my husband didn't like the name. Campbell was my second daughter, Gillian's, middle name.

You have such an in interesting family Alisande.

Hope you are feeling better.