Auntie Susie (Tocher) and my mother's mother, Annie Tocher, c. 1900. Probably taken in Edinburgh. My great grandmother raised her children alone after leaving my great grandfather. He was a pharmacist who "sampled the wares" and was "unsteady" (a euphemism for an alcoholic). The fact that my great great grandfather was a "spirits" merchant and that he worked for him before marrying my great grandmother might have contributed to the "unsteadiness". He died in an asylum of "softening of the brain," I recently discovered. No doubt a result of years of dissipation. View full size. Auntie Susie was a very talented artist and I have a few of her pieces, though my birth-father sold a number of them before I was born. She and my grandmother, Annie (who I was named after, though she preferred to be called Nancy) both died of cancer.
Auntie Susie (Tocher) and my mother's mother, Annie Tocher, c. 1900. Probably taken in Edinburgh. My great grandmother raised her children alone after leaving my great grandfather. He was a pharmacist who "sampled the wares" and was "unsteady" (a euphemism for an alcoholic). The fact that my great great grandfather was a "spirits" merchant and that he worked for him before marrying my great grandmother might have contributed to the "unsteadiness". He died in an asylum of "softening of the brain," I recently discovered. No doubt a result of years of dissipation. Auntie Susie was a very talented artist and I have a few of her pieces, though my birth-father sold a number of them before I was born. She and my grandmother, Annie (who I was named after, though she preferred to be called Nancy) both died of cancer. | Click image for Comments. | Home | Browse All Photos