Grandma Elsa’s Sunbonnet

My Grandma Elsa came to America in 1929 on a ship.  She and grandpa landed in San Francisco after passing through the Panama Canal, not the typical pioneer crossing.  I’ve got a photo of her holding up a huge stalk of bananas purchased in Panama which I will post when I get back home.  She planted a banana tree by her front door in her central valley California home.  It was there for years as I grew up and visited daily.  It never produced a single banana, but I imagine it reminded her of their pioneer crossing.
I have a sunbonnet Elsa made from a feedsack in the 1930s.  It looks just like the sunbonnets the pioneers wore crossing the plains.  It’s a treasure to me, reminding me of the courage Elsa had to leave family and friends and come to a new land, hoping and dreaming of better opportunity for her family and descendants.

I’ve been on two pioneer trek re-enactments. Each time I wore grandma’s sunbonnet so I would think of her and remember my other ancestors who pushed and pulled wagons and teams across the plains.

I am proud of my pioneer heritage.