The corrected family tree below was reproduced as a fold out appendix opposite page 564 of A History of Northumberland, Volume XII, the parishes of Ovingham, Stamfordham and Ponteland, by Madeleine Hope Dodds, published in 1926. Volume eleven had been delayed by the war and the committee had run out of money. More was raised for this volume whose committee is listed at the front. It included George Grey Butler. The note on page 565 says: "Appendix, Pedigree of Grey of Milfield. This pedigree is based on that contained in Vol. XI. which needed revision, and with the advice and aid of the compilers of the former, this amended version has been prepared, with corrections and additional data, and inserted as an appendix to the present volume at the request of members of the family."

The tree has the Middle Ord Greys descending from John Grey of Longhorsley's first marriage to Margaret Dobson and the Milfield Greys from his second marriage to Margaret Grey.

The family tree on pages 247 and 248 of A History of Northumberland Vol XI, Carham, Branxton, Kirknewton, & Ford, by Kenneth Vickers, published in 1922. The pedigrees were made by J. Crawford Hodgson. The names of the committee are not given but the acknowledgements include Mr James Cleghorn, who, if he is the James Cleghorn who worked with George Grey & Sons would know the recent details of the Milfield Greys.

Extracts from correspondence between George Grey Butler and George Aynsley Smith

Letter 1

Ewart Park, Wooler, Northumberland. 23 June 1926

Dear Mr. Aynsley Smith

I have been recommended to write to you by my friend Mr. A Maxwell Wood, who has been looking up the history of the Greys of Milfield. As I am a member of this family on my mother’s side, and have been asked by the County History Committee to revise the Pedigree for insertion into the new volume soon to appear, I venture to ask you for any help you may be able kindly to give me.

The death of my cousin Mr. George Grey of Milfield in 1915, was followed by that of his eldest son John Neill Grey in 1924; and I have had access to the volume of M.S. Notes which he had drawn up on the subject of the Greys of Northumberland. I enclose a copy I have made of a pedigree beginning with Sir Edward Grey of Morpeth. I could have added to this from other sources, but I have left it practically as he left it. I would specially ask you if you have any information of the Patience Anderson, wife of John Grey of Middle Ord (see 6th generation in the copy). In a work by Edmund Hepple published 1856, there is a Pedigree of Grey, where the following succession is shown- Sir Edward Grey, will proved 1631 sons 1. Philip 2. Edward 3. Ralph 4, John 5. Thomas Of these Thomas is stated to have "displeased his father by marriage” & to have died before 1658. His sons were “Thomas Grey of Angerton” 1656 and Edward Grey of Angerton Mill, 1656 from whom Grey of Milfield” This Edward was father of John of Lincolnsfield who was great grandfather all John Grey of Milfield (as shown also in the MS copy) This John Grey of Milfield (my grandfather) is also known as “ of Dilston” I believe that you have interested yourself in the Greys of Angerton: and I should be pleased to open communications with you on that subject, if you have the leisure and inclination for them. Believe me Yours Truly George Grey Butler.

Letter 2

28th of June 1926 Ewart Park, Wooler, Northumberland

Dear Mr. Aynsley Smith Your letter is most interesting, and I send you this brief line to say that I have some details, and am working on at the Thomas Grey of Angerton descent, which I will presently be able to send you with a fuller reply to your letter. I have the late Mr. Neil Grey’s M.S. notes of the “Grey of Milfield” pedigree & a few other materials, together with what do you have kindly told me. Yours very Truly, George Grey Butler

Letter 3

14 July 1926 Ewart Park, Wooler, Northumberland

Dear Mr. Aynsley Smith I am much interested in your letter of 29 June & the enclosed pedigrees, and copy of the will of Thomas Gray of Blackheddon. I have not sent you a reply until now, for I wanted to have a good search of the Longhorsley Parish registers before doing so. This had to wait a while during the time when my car was under repair. Now however, I have looked through three of those Registers in search of matter which interests you and me in common. I enclose herewith all I could see in Register No. 1 called “The Old Longhorsley Register” containing Baptisms, Marriages and Burials from 1668 to 1723. I have still to examine Register No. 2 from 1739 to 1797 and a third, not numbered, from 1759 to 1815 being a record of Marriages & Banns continuous with the Marriages section of Register No. 2 which ends at 1759 tho’ Baptisms and Burials there go till 31st December 1797. These latter two Registers being of more recent date would be less likely to have matters relating to the period of the pedigree you send me: but I will keep a look out for the names which bear upon your family history and send you a note thereon. Meanwhile our two lines of search seem to me to meet, more or less at one point. My grandfather John Grey of Dilston had as his grandfather John Grey of Longhorsley, who married Margaret Grey described in the Ford register as daughter of Edward Grey her husband's cousin of Burgham in the parish of Felton, bapt at Felton 25th of Novr. 1715; married there 29 May 1743. John Grey of Longhorsley was son of John Grey of “Lincolmfield”. So that the Edward Grey of Longframlington and of Burgham in your sketched pedigree, is identical with the Edward Grey described as her “husband's cousin” in my draft pedigree. Part of the difficulty is that I find no certain record of the earlier generation which should (if cousin means first cousin) show two brothers one being John Grey of Lincolnfield father of John of Longhorsley and the other - name unknown- being the father of Edward of Burgham At any rate to you and I seem to have a common ancestor in this Edward Grey, you through his daughter Margaret. If also the cousinship of John & Edward can be proved then we are both descended in the male line from one ancestor, the grandfather of these two cousins.

As regards James Grey or Gray buried in Ford churchyard . the name is spelt with a “e” or “a” indifferently: I often find this in records! But I want more information about this James. I will investigate further and write again Yours very truly George Grey Butler

Letter 4

Ewart Park, Wooler, Northumberland. 22 Decr. 1926

Dear Mr. Aynsley Smith Here are some notes on the subject of your letters of 3rd and 4th of December. You ask “Was Margaret Dobson the 1st wife of John Grey of Longhorsley”. I saw the Register of St. Nicholas in Newcastle which says “John Grey of the of the Parish of Longhorsley & Margaret Dobson, Spinster, married by License 1736 Oct. 23” & I have a letter from the then vicar at Longhorsley ?Daves in 1895, quoting Longhorsley register thus: “John Grey, widower of this Parish and Margaret Grey of Felton Parish, married by Banns May 1743” The word widower is significant I think. (The 1736 was misprinted in the final print by the County History Printer and none of the 5 or 6 members of the Committee who had ?revisers noticed it -including myself alas!)

John Grey has no date of death in “my” pedigree, and I wish I had known it- e.g. Nov. 1778 as you give it. The will seems to have been signed almost at the last moment.

George Grey according to my reference to Longhorsley Register was bapt. 15 of March 1754, while you give 6 May 1753. Is this possibly a date of birth? 10 months interval is not without example in burial records.

James Grey. The death at Milfield may be wrong, and the age 70 must be. These are Crawford Hodgson’s data which I accepted too trustfully. I had also however obtained a copy of the will of John Grey , wherein the testator says: - “I leave and bequeath to my three sons to wit, George Grey, William Grey, and James Grey, all my movable effects” etc and there is added (after probate) a note: “The above will was proved on or about 13 Jany 1779 by George Grey of Wingates Farmer, William Grey of Nesbit Farmer & James Grey of Longhorsley South Moor Farmer, the sons of the said deceased the Executors” And now I have your list of Extracts (which I return with best thanks) which gives the date of James’s birth 1761. Hence if the same James died at Milfield in 1813 he would have been 52 not to 70 years old.

... Respecting the uncertainty you feel whether John Grey was actually the son of John Grey and Francis Watson: - (i.e. was John ii son of John i in my table) I verified by reference to Longhorsley Register that on 28th May 1696 John Grey & Frances Watson were married 3 April 1697 John son of John Grey of Lincolnfield was baptised...... You have pointed out that Grey's eldest daughter was called Elizabeth (not Frances) which was probably after his mother, as the second daughter was called Ann after his wife's mother and the wife of Edward Grey of Burgham. I was not quite sure which of the John Greys you intended but the allusion to his wife's mother shows that do you mean John ii. Though Ann is named in your “Extracts” as buried in 1760., there is no date of birth given. I had not myself researched further ? ….than 1754; and have inserted only Elizabeth and Margaret in the pedigree as sisters of John iii, daughters of John ii. I am so far unable to judge the probability, one way or the other as between the parentages of the two John Greys, one the husband of Margaret, the other of Elizabeth Aynsley... Yours of 4th Decr. Yes, it is a blunder to put Heton into Norham- it should be, Cornhill. For this the Vol XI pedigree must share blame ?with me. Yours sincerely George Grey Butler

Further research indicated that both branches of the family were descended from John Grey's second wife. The family requested that in the next volume, number 12, the corrected version should be published. The corrected version is not online and therefore many ancestry.com submitters use the incorrect first version above.

However this version also contains a number of mistakes. On the last line Robert George Grey's birthday was 19 August not the 16th, and Hestia Dagmar's was 6th July not 16th. The correspondence between George Grey Butler and George Aynsley Smith in 1926 reveals further errors. By 1926 John Neil Grey had died and all his and his father George's research had been given to George Grey Butler at Ewart .

John Grey of Longhorsley's first marriage to Margaret Dobson is dated 1736 in Vol. XI and 1756 in Vol XII. 1736 is correct. Volume XII has changed it to 56. A typographical error. See above letter : "(The 1736 was misprinted in the final print by the County History Printer and none of the 5 or 6 members of the Committee who had revisers noticed it -including myself alas!)"

It is interesting to note that the unseen letter from Aynsley Smith appears to imply that " that the Edward Grey of Longframlington and of Burgham in your sketched pedigree, is identical with the Edward Grey described as her “husband's cousin” in my draft pedigree". His original MS has not been seen. The Morpeth connection has not been pursued in their correspondence.

James Grey of Milfield buried at Ford is likely to be James Gray with an "a" from a Morpeth family. He is unlikely be the correct James, as James of South Moor, farmer was an executor of his father's will in 1779. There is a death record at Longhorsley in 1785 for a James Grey of Wingates Moor which is more likely to be him, and he may be the last illegible name on his father's gravestone in Longhorsley churchyard. See above letter: "James Grey. The death at Milfield may be wrong, and the age 70 must be. These are Crawford Hodgson’s data which I accepted too trustfully." & "And now I have your list of Extracts (which I return with best thanks) which gives the date of James’s birth 1761. Hence if the same James died at Milfield in 1813 he would have been 52 not to 70 years old. "

"The death of my cousin Mr. George Grey of Milfield in 1915, was followed by that of his eldest son John Neill Grey in 1924; and I have had access to the volume of M.S. Notes which he had drawn up on the subject of the Greys of Northumberland." The volume of notes referred to has not been found among Milfield Hill archives, nor are they held in the archives at Berwick. They may lost, be held by Butler descendants or have been deposited elsewhere. George Grey Butler says" I have a letter from the then vicar at Longhorsley ?Daves in 1895, quoting Longhorsley register thus: “John Grey, widower of this Parish and Margaret Grey of Felton Parish, married by Banns May 1743” This may have been part of George Grey's MS and shows the date that he is pursuing his inquiries into his pedigree, when he was in his 40s. It looks as if the Milfield Grey's had no original sources or evidence for their genealogy before George Grey of West Ord.

It was George Grey's son Ivar who would have filled in the above entry for the landed gentry in 1937. He appears to have not had access to his older brother Neil's or their father's MS. He includes inaccurate and unverified Morpeth Castle ancestors and puts Margaret Ralphie as a first wife for John of Longhorsley, which is likely to be another mistake.

Aynsley Smith expresses doubt about Frances Watson who has been added at the top of the tree in Vol XII. The Lincolnfield John may be wrong as none of the three female grandchildren were called Frances. Their names were Elizabeth, Margaret and Ann.