Hello Joy
It's a while since we were in touch and you let me see your extensive family tree, which filled in quite a few gaps for me on my side and let me see more of my Scottish ancestry - I'm even less Scottish than you! According to family legend, it was your ancestor Alexander Miller whose drinking habits led to my side of the family becoming fervent teetotallers for several generations - my cousin was the first to break the habit, having partaken of a glass of sherry at her office party. Her mother was horrified and exclaimed "But I signed the pledge for you!". The rest of our generation followed my cousin's example, I'm afraid, but my mother and aunt remained committed abstainers.
The family portraits were bequeathed to me by Vera McIvor, my mother's cousin and daughter of Annie McIvor, the remaining living child from George and Jannet Miller's three sets of twins. They were, of course, Vera's grandparents. The portraits were hanging on her living room wall when my husband and I once visited her and we were interested to hear her talk about them. I supposed since she never married and was not only a relative but a close friend of my family, she decided to leave them to me, to my great surprise. We've never been able to hang them, as they are rather large, but my son intends to hang them in his hall, which is quite roomy. The better portrait is of George, looking very stern, while Jannet looks quite frail and isn't so well executed. My husband took photos of the portraits, which I have somewhere on another computer, but I'll look them out and send them to you as soon as I find them.
Just to remind you, Jannet Bell Adamson was the older sister of my gt-grandmother, Sarah Ann Adamson, who married John Hurst. Their only surviving son, George Thomas, was the father of my mother Sarah Ann Hurst. Like Jannet, Sarah lost several babies, seven boys in her case, though she did have four girls who all survived.
I've just read your other message, too. Thanks for that. I'm not young, but wasn't as old as I appeared in the tree!
Gill