Never Underestimate the Power of a Hat

This is a story my grandmother, Gertrude Maxine Wahl Buchanan (Nona), told me.  I have no idea if it is true, but I think it makes for great family folklore.

Lavenia had four husbands.  When she was married to one of them, (I don't know which one but I don't think it was James Miller or James McComb) she was living in Helper and decided she wanted a divorce.  In those days you had to file a claim in Price Utah, about 6 miles away.  The cost was $10.

Lavenia saved up her money and hitched up the wagon and set out for the courthouse in Price to get her divorce.  On the way she passed by a store and saw a hat in the window.

 Lavenia loved hats.  She stopped to get a closer look and fell in love with the hat on display.  The cost of the hat was $10.  She decided she could stand to stay married a little longer, but couldn't go another minute without that hat.  So she bought the hat instead of the divorce.

This is how I imagine she looked going back home.

This is what she actually looked like.

Maybe this is the hat she bought that day.

Or maybe it was this one. 

This story is about

Lavenia Andrus Miller McComb Sondberg Tryon (1854-1939)

My second great grandmother

me --> Bruce Albert Buchanan --> Robert Amos Buchanan --> June Miller Eckstein Buchanan --> Lavenia Andrus Miller McComb Sondberg Tryon

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