February 09, 2009

Hats . . . Beautiful Hats!

Why in the world did we ever stop wearing hats? Aren't they beautiful? Plus, think of all the stress you'd save on a bad hair day...just put on a cute hat!

Hats must have been all the rage in the early 20th century in Logan, Utah, and the surrounding communities. From the looks of things, every girl had more than one hat. I think they might have been the most important fashion accessory.


Alice James, Lila James Heninger, Ethel Heninger
Naomi and Henry Heninger


Hazel and Josh Gunnell



Naomi Heninger




Hazel Heninger




Naomi Heninger holding Maxine Gunnell, her granddaughter


My great-grandmother, Sarah Ann Brown Gunnell was a milliner or hat maker. She wrote a short life story - this little excerpt tells how she got her start making hats:

Sarah Ann Gunnell

"At the age 16, I was sent to learn the millenary and dress making art to Sister Ellen Whiton. Thereafter I followed that line in a limited way sewing and making straw hats. My sister braiding the straw and various patterns. I had become quite adept at making the trimming for the hats out of the natural and died straw thus we manufactured all the family hats and sold many."



These are her three oldest children - Rosella, Veda, and Charles - I'm sure she's the one that made their cute little hats!

What about you - do you wish we still wore hats like they used to wear? What kind of hat would you choose? Do you have old family photos of women wearing hats?

I hope you'll leave me a comment and let me know - just click on "comments" below this post and follow the instructions!

This story is my contribution to the 10th edition of the Blog Carnival "Smile for the Camera."



Kring_fmflwrs


Comments Imported from Blogger:

3 comments:

Jenny said...

I love the hats. I like to wear baseball caps but how awesome would it be if we wore hats like those. They would be like shoes for me...get one you love and then you have to buy clothes to match it. My favorite is the one Hazel has on in the portrait. She sure was pretty! ~Jenny

JoLyn said...

I'm with you - a hat for every outfit...or an outfit for every hat!

tipper said...

Love all the hat photos. My Mom makes hats-crocheted-for my girls they wear them a lot-but aren't allowed to wear them to school which is a bummer.

Feb 9, 2009 10:44:00 PM | Ethel Heninger Gunnell, Hazel Heninger Gunnell, Henry Clay Heninger, Joshua Brown Gunnell, Naomi Fifield Heninger, Sarah Ann Brown Gunnell

3 Comments

Brenda

Hats are so awesome! My sis-in-law wears them. I saw her in a purple (real purple) hat, dress and matching shoes. It was awesome! Great pixs~

Posted by: Brenda | March 07, 2009 at 07:06 PM

Wendi

I like wearing baseball caps too--they save me on my many bad hair days! :) I don't know if I'm fancy enough to wear hats like they did back then, though.

Posted by: Wendi | October 29, 2009 at 04:41 PM

maxgunnell@talktalk.net

Hi there - cant believe I have found your website. I would be really interested to hear from you. The facial features of Josh Gunnell are very much like my father's side of the family. I wonder if you know where Josh was born and where his parents were from. would love to hear from you.

Miss Maxine Gunnell
England, UK

Posted by: [email protected] | June 28, 2010 at 05:53 AM

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