--- title: "Musicians in the family: an afterword" description: In thinking about the Ilsley family of singers and musicians to which my great-grandmother Theodora Ilsley Ayer belonged, I could think of no special evidence of the family talent having lasted into t image: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ABA-with-All-Blue-1920-235x300-1.jpg --- # [Vita Brevis A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Musicians in the family: an afterword [August 18, 2014](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2014/08/musicians-in-the-family-4) [Research Methods](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-methods), [A Genealogist's Diary](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/a-genealogists-diary), [Object Lessons](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/object-lessons), [Family stories](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/family-stories) [Scott C. Steward](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/ssteward) [![ABA with All Blue 1920](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ABA-with-All-Blue-1920-235x300-1.jpg?width=235&height=300&name=ABA-with-All-Blue-1920-235x300-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ABA-with-All-Blue-1920-1.jpg) My grandmother in 1920 In thinking about the Ilsley family of [singers and musicians](http://vita-brevis.org/2014/08/musicians-in-the-family-3/) to which my great-grandmother Theodora Ilsley Ayer belonged, I could think of no special evidence of the family talent having lasted into the twentieth century. Yet to pose the question is to invite the answer, and in fact I have a letter – preserved in my paternal grandmother’s scrapbook – hinting at musical skills which Mrs. Ayer hoped to foster. In November 1925, my grandmother (Anne Beekman Ayer) was at school in Virginia. From the letter written by Margaret Liddell Torrens on 9 November, it would appear that Anne visited the Torrenses in New York, perhaps en route to or from Boston, where the Ayers lived. Both Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Torrens were voice teachers, but it was Mr. Torrens who heard Anne sing – and perhaps play the piano as well – while it was Mrs. Torrens who wrote Theodora Ayer communicating her husband’s verdict. (*Click on the images to expand them*.) [![Torrens 2](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Torrens-2-260x300-1.jpg?width=260&height=300&name=Torrens-2-260x300-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Torrens-2-1.jpg)[![Torrens 3](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Torrens-3-266x300-1.jpg?width=266&height=300&name=Torrens-3-266x300-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Torrens-3-1.jpg) It would seem that, unlike some of the nineteenth-century Ilsleys, Anne’s talents as a singer and pianist fell well within the normal range. The Torrenses noted, politely, that she was very young still, and that she should continue working on her piano and languages and “cautiously with her voice.” (Interestingly enough, my grandmother’s first cousin Anne Proctor Ayer became a well-known mezzo-soprano singer – but she was a cousin on the Ayer rather than the Ilsley side.) My grandmother later studied in Paris, and perhaps this had to do with further musical training, but in any case she married my grandfather in November 1927, at the age of nineteen, and devoted her energies to raising her sons and running a farm in Massachusetts. I should close by saying that my sisters are both talented singers and musicians. Perhaps this is the latest manifestation of the Ilsley musical skills (on our father’s side) and those of the [Boucher family](http://vita-brevis.org/2014/04/organizing-family-reunion-part-one/) (on our mother’s side) – it’s a nice thought! ### Share this: - [mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2014/08/musicians-in-the-family-4](mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2014/08/musicians-in-the-family-4) - - - More - - ![Scott C. Steward](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported%20images/f0ca00236a2eb95f2a42a6692ce1ee9c%3Fs=96%26d=identicon%26r=g.jpeg) ## About Scott C. Steward Scott C. Steward has been NEHGS’ Editor-in-Chief since 2013. He is the author, co-author, or editor of genealogies of the Ayer, Le Roy, Lowell, Saltonstall, Thorndike, and Winthrop families. His articles have appeared in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, NEXUS, New England Ancestors, American Ancestors, and The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, and he has written book reviews for the Register, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.[View all posts by Scott C. Steward →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/ssteward) [← Adding context to my genealogy](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2014/08/adding-context-genealogy) [Musicians in the family: Part Three →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2014/08/musicians-in-the-family-3) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ### Recent Posts [Sailor Bill and His Forgotten Wife](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/sailor-bill-and-his-forgotten-wife) [Professor X](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/professor-x) [Part I: Malaga Island, Maine](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/part-i-malaga-island-maine) [The Norwegian folge](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/the-norwegian-folge) [Research…in a Miniskirt? 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