Comments on: The Curious Case of Dr. Henry Head Gray

By: doug howard

doug howard — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:06:20 +0000

i have been trying to find the heirs of a florence grey who is supposed to be the daughter of fannie grey; they lived in okc and i think this is related to the h.h. grey story

By: Suzanne Wagoner

Suzanne Wagoner — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 10:47:14 +0000

Dr. H.H. Grey was my grandfather’s step-father. According to family lore, Dr. Grey faught in the Bore War. On the way back from South Africa, he had an appendicitis operation and the sleeve that was holding his intestines together came loose. According my grandmother, he cut the incision back open push the sleeve back into position and saved his own life, as there were no other doctors on the train to help him. He also told my grandfather that he was a close personal friend of Cecil Rhodes (Rhodes Scholar fame. No one in our family mentioned Dr. Gray/Grey committing suicide. As a matter of fact, I was just asking my mother the other day if Dr. Grey was buried in Oklahoma City. She said no, that he was shipped back to his family in Canada. It was also told to us, that Dr. Grey left Canada without divorcing his wife and turned around and married my grandmother, Fannie Anna Macomber Woodworth Grey. All this sounds to unreal but we have nothing to go on.

I check with the two oldest cemetaries in Oklahoma, Fairlawn and Rosehill and they said there was no Dr. Grey buried in either place and there was no land purchased by Dr. Grey or his wife at the time of his death for his last resting place. Maybe Fannie just paid to have him shipped back to Canada. The death certificate was so vague as it did not list any relatives. How on earth would they know to ship him to Oklahoma if no relatives were present to claim the body. Also, the body was discovered at 8:00 am according to the Coronar and they shipped him to be buried the same day from Kansas City, MO to Oklahoma City, OK??? Did you check the family plot in Canada to see if they have two bodies buried with the same name??? Please let us know what your investigation turns up. We would certainly like to know. Sincerely, Suzanne

By: Shelley Carpenter

Shelley Carpenter — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:00:29 +0000

Bear with me through this as I can add a few details to your story… My Great-Grandmother, Fannie Macomber married Thomas T. Woodworth in Chicago in 1886. In 1890, they had a child, my Grandfather, Thomas James Woodworth. They lived in St. Paul, MN at the time of his birth. In 1901, Thomas T. died, in St. Paul (apparently came home drunk and froze to death outside the house – or so the story goes). So – according to family oral history, at some point Fannie moved to New Orleans to manage her lumber mills that were in Mississippi (I think this is bogus). Anyway, she met Dr. H.H. Grey, who was from Toronto, Canada and a veteran of the Boer War (again I think that is bogus). H.H. told Fannie that he had left a wife in Canada without divorcing her. After Fannie and H.H. Were married H.H. wanted to raise my grandfather as his own and changed his name to Cecil Head Grey. I do not believe that he ever formally adopted Cecil. The name Cecil came from H.H. claiming that he was good friends with Cecil John Rhodes (yes, the Cecil Rhodes that founded Rhodesia). The middle name – we now know came from H.H. In 1902 H.H., Fannie and Cecil moved to Oklahoma City, OK and H.H. was a staff physician at St. Anthony’s Hospital until his death (I’m still trying to verify this with St. Anthony’s). (Prior to moving to Oklahoma City he supposedly had a medical practice in Beaumont, Texas). I was able to locate his death certificate online which lists him as H.N. Grey but it is definitely him – poisoned with Cyanide. Within 30 minutes of finding his name to be Henry Head Grey, I found this wonderful article which certainly creates many questions.