Over and over during her lifetime, my mother and other relatives used to share family tidbits. One was that an ancestor had died in a snow bank with his thumb in a whiskey bottle–presumably to protect the contents.
Just recently, I found the death registration for my great-great grandfather John Anson of Ontario. The cause of death was listed, “from exposure due to alcohol.”
I didn’t know the story had been about my maternal grandmother’s grandfather. No wonder she always adamantly denied the story her daughters told and was horrified that we would think such a thing about any relative of hers.
Linda Sherlock
Previously published in RootsWeb Review:
25 July 2007, Vol. 10, No. 30
