Episode 35 – The Giggling Granny

Nannie met Charlie Bragg at the linen factory where they both worked. After knowing each other for only about four or five months, they were married. 

Nannie didn’t know it, but they would be living with his mother who controlled most of Charlie’s actions and was very jealous for his attention, even going so far as to be present in the house on their wedding night. 

Nannie started drinking to cope with her mother-in-law and heavily smoking, which would be a lifelong addiction for her. She and her hubby cheated on each other, and not subtly. 

Somehow, the couple managed to have four daughters from 1923-1927. However, it was a miserable household in which Charlie would disappear and leave Nannie alone to take care of their children for long stretches of time. 

In 1927, Charlie came home to find out that their two middle daughters had suddenly died. The cause of death was determined to be food poisoning.

Immediately afterward, the couple split up with Charlie taking off with their oldest daughter, Melvina, leaving their baby girl Florine and Nannie behind. Nannie got a job in a cotton mill to support herself and the baby. 

Soon, Charlie’s mother, who stayed behind when Charlie left, died. Immediately after hearing this, Charlie brough Melvina back to Nannie and exited their lives for good. He later reported he left his wife because he was frightened of her. Even then, he had his suspicions about her involvement in the deaths of his daughters and mother.