Father's Day barbeque
[ Madge's Story ]

Here’s to Dad on Fathers Day

Revisiting this post and adding some more photos.

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there.
As many of you know, this blog and my vintage shop are dedicated to my maternal grandmother, Ora Madge Beals Meredith.  
But today I am giving a shout out to my wonderful dad – Jim Hill w...

Tags: 1970s, ancestry, car salesman, dad, Dick Price, family research, family tree, fathers day, Here's to Dad on Fathers Day, Jim Hill, lincoln continental, livin la vida vintage', living la vida vintage, madgeshatbox, shop, vintage, Wichita, womble oldsmobile
Miss Thelma's Recipes
[ Livin' La Vida Vintage ][ Madge's Story ]

Miss Thelma’s Recipes

The Search for MadgeRegular readers know that MadgesHatbox is named in honor of my grandmother Madge Beals Meredith who was a milliner in her younger days.  Little did I know, when I made that decision, an adventure was in store.  A chance remark led me to try to find a hat shop Madge opened in Scoo...

Tags: ancestry, family research, family tree, living la vida vintage, milliners, millinery, Miss Thelma's recipes, NaBloPoMo, scooba mississippi, Thelma Briggs McConnell
scooba mississippi
[ Featured ][ Madge's Story ]

Finding Madge in Mississippi
A Granddaughter’s Journey

Opening an online shop to sell my vintage collection was a conscious act to de-clutter.  Naming the shop Madge’s Hatbox, after my grandmother, was a loving nod to her years as a milliner.   Then a chance remark by my aunt sent me on a journey in search of a hat shop my grandmother o...

Tags: ancestry, back to mississippi, chanute kansas, end of the road, family research, family tree, finding madge, grandmother, hat, hats, journey, kemper county, livin la vida vintage', madge meredith, madgeshatbox, madgeshatbox vintage, milliner, millinery shop, pamela lappin, scooba mississippi, scooba ms, the journey begins, trip, vintage
The End of the Road
[ Madge's Story ]

Finding Madge – The End of the Road

As the car eased out of the motel parking lot, a thought was nagging in the back of my brain. Was I wasting my time?  Any contemporaries of my grandmother were long gone. Maybe too much time had passed.

This whole quest had begun by happenstance.   Opening a shop to sell my vintage collection was ...

Tags: 1920s, ancestry, etsy, etsy creative origin story, family research, family tree, finding madge, living la vida vintage, madgeshatbox, milliners, millinery, origin story, scooba mississippi, vintage
[ Madge's Story ]

Finding Madge – Chanute, Kansas

For those of you following along with my journey to find the history of grandmother Madge's career as a milliner, you might remember a previous post that included a letter from Mrs. Margaret Steely in Chanute, Kansas.   That letter was one of the first clues I had about Grandmother Madge's hat shop....

Tags: ancestry, chanute, chanute kansas, dan webb, family tree, geneology, google earth, grandmother, kansas, livin la vida vintage', madgsehatbox, milliner, millinery shop
[ Madge's Story ]

Finding Madge – The Journey Begins

The Journey BeginsAnd so with this letter, the journey begins.  A journey to rediscover my grandmother’s life as a young woman trying to make it on her own as a milliner. For years I had known that my grandmother Madge worked in the hat trade before her marriage to my grandfather bu...

Tags: an etsy creative origin story, ancestry, etsy, family research, family tree, finding madge, madgeshatbox, origin story, the journey begins