Wonderful quarter-plate ambrotype of a father posed with his five children. He holds a gilded book and stares with great attention at his youngest child. The older son is posed in a stately manner looking into the distance and holding a double- barrel shotgun. Is the mother deceased and the father now the caregiver, with his oldest son taking over his father’s chores? A little research might reveal the answers as there is a handwritten identification on the back of the image. There is a photographer’s card for Wm. Nisbet and the family is identified as Tho. Buchan Sydserff of Ruchlaw with his children, John, Patricia, Margaret, Eleanor, and Thomas. Taken at Ruclaw Mill, March 18 th 1858. The plate is in excellent condition with one spot visible. It is housed in an equally beautiful full leather case.

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