Edward Boggs wrote: > When I was about 3 years old, I remember wanting to wear my > grandfather's hat. It was what I would describe as a straw cowboy hat. > Is this something someone would wear on a farm? I believe they were > coalminers though. (He was from Wise Co. and Pennington Gap.) > You don't write how old you are, but unless it was truly a cowboy hat (which would be relatively rare in Pennsylvania) and not simply a straw fedora I wouldn't put too much effort into speculation on his career based on your memories of the hat. Hats were ubiquitous years ago, and especially in the east the social rule of wearing felt hats in the winter and starw hats between Memorial Day and Labor Day was pretty strictly observed as a social convention. Are you sure that your young memory hasn't converted that big straw Panama into an imaginary cowboy hat? -- Bob Birchard [email protected] http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Guest/birchard.htm