VOLUME XLI
(detail of sampler by Maria Eby, page 8)
Copyright Š 2012 by M. Finkel & Daughter, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without the permission in writing from M. Finkel & Daughter, Inc. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Welcome ... We are delighted to present this issue of Samplings which is the 41st edition of our catalogue of schoolgirl samplers and needlework, produced semiannually since 1991. It is our hope that you enjoy reading through this catalogue which presents 36 fine antique samplers and schoolgirl needleworks. We thank you all for your continued and growing interest in this field. Schoolgirl samplers and needlework provide fascinating opportunities to collectors. A sampler acts as a window into the specific history of a young girl, her family, a teacher, a town, a region, and a tradition, and as such provides us with unusual insight. It goes without saying that samplers, from a simple marking piece to an elaborate scene, are also extremely visually appealing. Each of our samplers has been fully researched and documented; it is well-known that we both conduct ourselves and have others engage in intensive genealogical research and often achieve important results. When we describe a sampler or silk embroidery, we frequently refer to a number of fine books that have been written in this field. A selected bibliography is included at the end of the catalogue and is updated regularly. We also include a description page about our conservation methods and encourage you to call us with any questions in this area. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the founding of our firm. We continue to value our positive relationships with clients, many of whom are now second generation, and strive to maintain our commitment to customer service. Buying antiques should be based in large measure on trust and confidence, and we try to treat each customer as we ourselves like to be treated. We operate by appointment and are at the shop Monday through Friday, and are avaialable on weekends, except when we are exhibiting at antiques shows. Please let us know of your plans to visit us. We suggest that you contact us in a timely fashion if one or more of our samplers is of interest to you. Please let us know if you would like us to email you better photos than appear in this catalogue. The majority of the pieces in the catalogue have not yet appeared on our website so as to give our catalogue subscribers the advantage of having a first look. Should your choice be unavailable, we would be happy to discuss your collecting objectives with you. Our inventory is extensive, and we have many other samplers that are not included in our catalogue but which are on our website. Moreover, through our sources, we may be able to locate what you are looking for; you will find us knowledgeable and helpful. Payment may be made by check, VISA, Mastercard, or American Express. Pennsylvania residents should add 6% sales tax. All items are sold with a five day return privilege. Expert packing is included: shipping and insurance costs are extra. We prefer to ship via UPS ground or Federal Express air, insured. We look forward to your phone calls and your interest.
Amy Finkel Jamie Banks mailbox@samplings.com 800-598-7432 215-627-7797 Are you interested in selling? We are constantly purchasing antique samplers and needlework and would like to know what you have for sale. We can purchase outright or act as your agent. Photographs emailed or sent to us will receive our prompt attention. Please call us for more information.
ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF CONTENTS Lucy M. Beecher, Woodbridge, Connecticut, 1808............................................................. 16 Eliza Bibby, America, 1834................................................................................................. 13 Canvaswork Picture, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1750................................................... 11 Keturah J. Carter, School of Ann H. Thorn, Smithfield, Jefferson Co., Ohio, 1830.......... 21 Hitty W. Chase, Claremont, New Hampshire, 1824............................................................. 9 Sarah Coffin, New England, 1806........................................................................................ 6 Miniature Sampler, Eliza Cooper, Rainham, Essex, England, 1849................................... 20 Catharine Louisa Cornell, age 10, Allentown, New Jersey, 1820......................................... 2 Mary Cottam, England, 1814.............................................................................................. 28 Catharine Davies, England, 1844....................................................................................... 22 Sarah Alice Devoe, Catholic School, Cincinnati, Ohio, circa 1845.................................... 28 Maria Eby, Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1821............................................. 8 Sarah Fitz, Silk Embroidery, “Hop-Picking”, Derry, NH, circa 1815................................... 5 Martha Furber, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, 1831............................................ 26 Mary B. Gove, under the instruction of Phebe H. Chase, Weare, NH, 1827........................ 1 Abagail Haines, Betsy Pickering’s School, North Hampton, NH, 1814.............................. 19 Frances Harrison, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1812....................................................... 12 Mary Hogeland, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1830...................................................... 4 Lydia Jacob, Hingham, Massachusetts, circa 1755............................................................. 17 Patty Keyes, age 9, Westford, Massachusetts, Linsey-Woolsey Sampler, 1806................... 29 Caroline E. Lord, Danvers, Massachusetts, 1838............................................................... 24 Mary Catharine Metcger, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1836...................................... 27 Barbara Myers, Pennsylvania, 1841.................................................................................... 23 Beulah Passmore, Quaker, Edgemont, Pennsylvania, 1812................................................. 6 Pictorial Sampler, School of Mrs. Mary Ralston, Easton, PA, circa 1830............................. 2 Pictorial Dutch Sampler, Zeeland, the Netherlands, 1791................................................. 32 Rebecah Plumer, Newbury, Massachusetts, 1822............................................................... 14 Roll-up Pocket, initialed H. N., American, circa 1800....................................................... 15 Bathsheba A. Puder, Hackettstown, New Jersey, 1836....................................................... 20 Silk Embroidered Memorial to Mary Fletcher Spalding, Chelmsford, MA, c. 1810........... 30 Angelina Upton, Dracut, Massachusetts, 1825................................................................... 31 Louisa Wainwright, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1809............................................. 24 Rebekah Wetherbee, Bolton, Massachusetts, 1829............................................................. 33 Sarah Winder, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1810............................................................. 18 Mary Wisby, Ballykelly Female School, County Derry, Northern Ireland, 1845................ 27 Ann Woodmansee, School of E. T. Stephens, Cream Ridge, New Jersey, 1827.................. 10
(detail of sampler by Louisa Wainwright, page 24)
Mary B. Gove, Under the Instruction of Phebe H. Chase, Weare, New Hampshire, 1827 A great rarity, this excellent, large sampler is combined with a watercolor painting, a splendid folk art townscape by the same maker. Mary Breed Gove, a 13-yearold from Weare, New Hampshire created this highly successful work, which offers enormous visual appeal. This was in the collection of Theodore H. Kapnek, and is published as figure 98 in A Gallery of American Samplers: The Theodore H. Kapnek Collection (Dutton, 1978) by Glee Krueger, one of the most important pieces in his extensive collection. It was also published, as figure 215, in Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America (Dutton, 1980) by Sandra Brandt and Elissa Cullman, who too noted its importance. The paint was applied free-hand as well as sponge-decorated, typical of the period. While the watercolor adds greatly to the significance of this piece, the pictorial elements and the overall composition of the sampler render it a highly desirable example on its own. One cannot fail to admire the large birds in the upper corners, the little landscape with fat sheep nestled between neo-classical columns topped by pots of flowers, the many large flowering branches and a finely worded poem regarding Mary’s hand with “artful aim” and her “useful needle.” Mary stitched “P.H. Chase Instructress” onto her sampler; in fact this was her first cousin, Phebe Hoag Chase, born in March of 1810 to John and Betty (Dow) Chase, also Friends. Phebe married, in 1845, Dr. Enoch Greene who was raised and educated in Weare but later removed to New York State, where he served the field of public medicine admirably, as medical director of Sing Sing Prison and director of Ward’s Island emigrant hospitals and nurseries. Phebe succumbed to an outbreak of cholera in 1849. Worked in silk on linen and watercolor on paper, they both remain in excellent condition. The sampler has been conservation mounted; the fine cherry and maple cornerblock frame is original. Sight size: 23¾" x 17¾"
Frame size: 29½" x 23½”
Price: $38,500.
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Pictorial Sampler, School of Mrs. Mary Ralston, Easton, Pennsylvania, circa 1830 The splendid large pictorial samplers made at the school of Mrs. Mary Ralston of Easton, Pennsylvania in the 1830s are among the most interesting of all of the early 19th century samplers made in the mid Atlantic region. Writing in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II, Betty Ring provides much information about Mary Ralston and the highly recognizable samplers worked under her able instruction, featuring “impressive buildings surrounded by heavy floral borders worked in wool.” Mary Ralston (1772-1850) commenced teaching in Easton and opened a girls’ private school that was in operation for many years. She was highly respected, as evidenced by the published obituary in the April 13, 1850 Easton Democrat and Argus: “[Mrs. Ralston] had resided in this place, where for many years she conducted a female school. Her many moral and social virtues made a lasting impression upon the affections of this community.” Some of the samplers made by her students were signed and some were unsigned. The most soughtafter resemble this excellent piece, with a fine depiction of a large building, worked in shades of grey and showing unusual architectural detail. The borders are complex in their composition and lush with large flower blossoms and leaves. Also notable is that the inked drawing onto linen is visible in a number of areas. Figure 505 in Girlhood Embroidery, a very similar piece, also unsigned and now in the collection of the Monroe County Historical Association, presents the virtually identical border and an original inscription on the back of the sampler, which indicates that “the teacher drew one flower at a time.” This example was worked in silk and wool on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine period maple frame. Sampler size: 17½” x 21½”
Frame size: 22” x 26”
Price: $45,000.
Catharine Louisa Cornell, age 10, Allentown, New Jersey, 1820 The maker of this outstanding sampler was Catharine Louisa Cornell, a young lady from a highly distinguished American family. Born on October 18, 1810, she was the seventh of the twelve children of the Reverend John Cornell and Maria Frelinghuysen Cornell who resided in Somerset County, New Jersey, where Rev. Cornell was a pastor and leader of the Presbyterian Church. Much has been written about Rev. Cornell who was a respected minister and classics teacher. The research and genealogical file that accompanies this sampler is very detailed and includes a copy of Rev. Cornell’s will, along with detailed family information from many published sources. (continued on the next page)
Catharine Louisa Cornell, age 10, Allentown, NJ, 1820 (cont.) Catharine’s maternal grandfather was General Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753-1804), an early graduate of and tutor at Princeton University, a highly respected colonel in the Battles of Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth, New Jersey, a delegate to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, and a United States senator from 1793-96. He was considered amongst the most supportive of Revolutionary patriots and, upon the death of Gen. George Washington, delivered his eulogy in New Brunswick. Catharine’s mother was also distinguished and is noted for having founded one of the earliest American temperance organizations and for her many leadership roles in church and civic affairs.
The sampler features a stately two chimney federal house, flanked by six pine trees, set on a stepped terrace lawn. The composition indicates a strong influence from Philadelphia samplers, which are well discussed by Betty Ring in Girlhood Embroidery, Philadelphia in the Federal Period, Samplers with Mansions and Terraced Gardens (volume II, pages 361 – 369). Catharine embellished her lawn with an abundance of animals and plants arranged in a balanced fashion. Additionally, flowers, birds, and baskets decorate the rest of the sampler and they are all surrounded by a handsome border, which also clearly echoes the design of the borders found on many Philadelphia samplers made from 1750 on. The initials “MGT” refer to the instructress, Mary G. Taylor, who can be indentified from another very similar sampler, also made by a New Jersey girl, dated 1824. Under the capable tutelage of this talented teacher, Catharine Louisa Cornell, a very young needleworker, created quite an impressive sampler. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition, conservation mounted into a mahagony frame. Sampler size: 12¼” x 16¾”
Frame size: 16¼” x 20¾”
Price: $48,000.
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Mary Hogeland, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1830 A small and important group of samplers was made by schoolgirls in Philadelphia in the first decades of the 19th century. The defining characteristic of these pieces is the very charming couple wonderfully portrayed by Mary Hogeland on this splendid sampler: a gentleman in a short double-breasted blue jacket with gold buttons and a lady wearing a side-swept skirt and holding a reticule, both sport fanciful plumed hats. Brick houses set on stepped lawns and many animals, trees, baskets and flowers embellish these samplers, as well. They must have been made under the instruction of a local schoolteacher and surface only rarely. Mary Hogeland’s sampler is a delightful new discovery. Quite interestingly, this sampler includes a great assortment of Quaker designs and motifs, not found on others from this group.
The Hogeland family is well-documented in History and Genealogy of the Hoagland Family in America From Their First Settlement at New Amsterdam 1638 to 1891 by Daniel Hoogland Carpenter (New York, 1891). Variations of the family name include Hoochlandt, Hoagland, Hoogland and Hogeland and the family was part of the Dutch population that settled initially in New Amsterdam, now New York, and removed to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. One of the earlier progenitors was Cornelius Hoochlandt who arrived in 1638 and operated a ferry from Manhattan to Brooklyn, Long Island at what later was known as the Fulton Ferry. By 1723 a branch of the family settled in Feasterville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia and became owners of large tracts of land in the area. Mary Hogeland was born in 1814, the daughter of Elias and Elizabeth Hogeland of Germantown. Her sampler was likely made when she age 13 to 15. In 1835 Mary married Joseph Everett Davis. They moved to St. Joseph County, Indiana and had at least one child, George Brideson Davis. Mary died in 1905. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine mahogany frame. Sampler size: 16¼” x 18¼”
Frame size: 20¾” x 22¾”
Price: $12,000.
Sarah Fitz, Silk Embroidery, “Hop-Picking”, Derry, NH, circa 1815 Very occasionally we come across a silk embroidery featuring a subject which falls outside of the usual memorial, religious or allegorical material. “Hop-Picking,” is a highly unusual and brilliantly worked silk embroidered picture featuring an outstanding scene of a couple and two young girls picking hops off of vines and depositing them into tall splint-woven baskets. The subject holds great appeal and the needlework is of an extraordinarily high quality. Added to the importance of this silk embroidery is the fact that it descended in the family of the maker and is accompanied by excellent family information. The talented needleworker responsible for this was Sarah Fitz of Derry, New Hampshire, which is south of Manchester. This young lady was born in November of 1793 to Currier Fitz (17631841) and Sarah (George) Fitz, who resided in Sandown and then in Derry. The Fitz family’s published accounts indicates that Currier Fitz was “remarkable for physical strength and mental energy, and became quite wealthy.” In 1816, at age 23, Sarah became the first female Preceptress at the Pinkerton Academy in Londonderry, New Hampshire. A photocopy of the listing of trustees and students in the first session, June 1816, has been in the family and accompanies the silk embroidery. This may have been worked when Sarah was a student elsewhere or it’s possible that Sarah accomplished this while teaching at Pinkerton Academy, as an example to her pupils. Sarah remained at Pinkerton Academy for only one year and married Col. Samuel Adams, a proprietor of the Pinkerton Tavern, in Derry. The influence of Sarah was notable, and the following was written in Pinkerton Academy 1814-1964 by Carl C. Forsaith: “Even though Miss Fitz stepped from behind her desk, her interest in the students far outlasted her tenure as a teacher, and eventually her devotion to her pupils was rewarded by the return of their affection. In later years, this respected lady was known as Grandmother Adams to the host of grandchildren who had come under her influence.” Sarah and Samuel raised three children in Derry and she died in 1878. Sarah’s talents as a needleworker and watercolorist are in evidence throughout this extraordinary piece. The young lady’s deep coral and gold jacket, striated blue fichu and striped skirt were executed with tiny stitches that blend seamlessly with the ink and watercolor of the checkered draped homespun of her apron. Notable are the buttons and ties on the gentleman’s breeches, the weave of the hops baskets and the delicate leafy hops themselves. The wonderfully skillful combination of technique and medium is very impressive. Additionally, the faces of the couple and the two children are portrait miniatures of outstanding quality. Worked in silk, ink and watercolor on silk, this retains its original felted paper mat with the original calligraphy title on paper; the frame is also original. It is in excellent condition. Sight size: 8¾” x 12¾”
Frame size: 13¾” x 17¾”
Price: $13,500.
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Sarah Coffin, New England, Linsey-Woolsey, 1806 Provenance: Collection of Betty Ring
We are delighted to offer this aesthetically appealing linsey-woolsey sampler with its even more appealing provenance: it was in the collection of Betty Ring, to whom we and all sampler enthusiasts are greatly indebted. The world of schoolgirl samplers provided Betty with a life-long interest; as she wrote in a letter to me in 1993, “American samplers are an everunfolding field of endless surprises – I can never tire of it!” And she provided all of us with her numerous scholarly books and articles delving into many specific schools, groups and types of samplers, silk embroideries and needlework pictures. Betty collected samplers for a variety of reasons and several interested her as study examples for her writings. Sarah Coffin’s sampler was published by Betty in her first book, American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring (Dutton, 1987), figure 92, in an interesting grouping. Sarah indicated in the inscription on her sampler that she was “aged 12 years June 11, 1806.” While certain identification of Sarah isn’t possible, it is highly likely that she was the daughter of Isaiah and Sarah (Folger) Coffin of Nantucket. Born on February 2nd of 1794, she indeed would have been 12 years old in June of 1806. The majority of linseywoolsey samplers were made in towns along the coast of New England from southern Massachusetts to southern Maine. The fabric is a combination of linen and wool and is generally a shade of green, or olivegreen, a most visually appealing background color. Sarah Coffin chose a beautiful shade of linseywoolsey, a true deep green and used a wonderful palette, predominantly of pink and blue, for her needlework. A delicate leafy vine with flowers and buds frames the composition well. The sampler was worked in silk on linsey-woolsey and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a black painted frame. Sampler size: 16½” x 12”
Frame size: 18½” x 14”
Price: $6400.
Beulah Passmore, Quaker, Edgemont, Pennsylvania, 1812 Provenance: Collection of Betty Ring
. This sampler has interested us since 1987 when it was exhibited at the American Folk Art Museum as part of the Betty Ring collection, and then published in American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring (Dutton, 1987) by Mrs. Ring, fig. 73. The very handsome Quaker sensibility is obvious throughout, from the alphabets to the motifs and halfmedallions, and the stitching was accomplished in an unusual palette predominated by teal blue. The maker was Beulah Passmore, a young lady who lived in Edgemont, south of Philadelphia. Specific family information was stitched onto the sampler, beginning with the names and ages of the maker’s parents, as well as the names of her many siblings, six of these names appear abbreviated unusually in order to fit them into the allotted space, such as Hannah Passmore, whose name appears as “H….h P……e.” Beulah’s siblings whose names were shortened with tiny cross stitches are Hannah, Mary, Abigail, Richard, Deborah and Rachel. (continued on the next page)
Beulah Passmore, Quaker, Edgemont, Pennsylvania, 1812 (cont.) Provenance: Collection of Betty Ring The Passmore family in America began with William Passmore who emigrated in 1715, a Friend seeking religious freedom. The family remained in the Quaker church and, generations later, Richard and Deborah (Griscom) Passmore joined the Goshen Monthly Meeting in Chester County in 1781. The Griscom family was from New Jersey and there is a connection that we would be remiss not to note: Deborah Griscom’s great grandfather, Tobias Griscom (1686-1719) was the grandfather of the renowned Betsy Ross (Elizabeth Griscom Ross). Richard and Deborah had nine children born between 1787 and 1801; Beulah was born in 1792. She entered the Westtown School, the country’s largest and most well-regarded Quaker school, in April of 1812, as student #1142 and remained there until October of 1813. Her sampler may have been made when she was at Westtown or may have been worked in the months of 1812 prior to entering the school. Beulah led the life of an active and committed Friend, supportive of causes that were important to Quakers. On May 16 and 17, 1838 she attended a women’s antislavery convention in Philadelphia, held at the newly built and just opened Pennsylvania Hall, where she represented the Association of Friends Advocating for the Cause of the Slave, along with Lucretia Mott. The construction of this controversial hall was funded by the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and applauded as a place where “liberty and equality of civil rights can be freely discussed, and the evils of slavery fearlessly portrayed,” by former President John Quincy Adams. On May 18, just four days after it was opened, Pennsylvania Hall was burnt to the ground by a violent mob objecting to its purpose. Beulah was also involved with an organization called Improvement of Juvenile Literature, which published books for school and home reading. In 1844, she and her younger sister Rachel wrote and published a volume entitled Some Reflections in Prose and Poetry. Peripherally, her niece (daughter of her older brother Everett), Deborah Griscom Passmore (1840-1911), became a nationally known botanical artist and illustrator. Beulah remained single and lived in Philadelphia. She died in 1840 and is buried at the Sassafras Meeting in Philadelphia along with her sister Rachel. Beulah’s sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition, with one minor area of loss to the linen. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame. Sampler size: 12¼” x 16”
Frame size: 14½” x 18¼”
Price: $14,500.
Of interest to enthusiasts of Quaker samplers, and of Chester County material in general, is the exhibition at the Chester County Historical Society in West Chester, Pennsylvania, In Stitches: Unraveling Their Stories. This excellent, comprehensive exhibit, on view through September 7, 2012, displays large portions of the needlework collection of both the Westtown School and the Historical Society.
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Maria Eby, Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1821
The excellent pictorial house and garden scene worked by Maria Eby on her splendid sampler displays an unusual exuberance; the lady holding a large bunch of flowers, the little girl carrying a basket, the large black and white rooster and a little white dog all provide great detail and whimsy as they fill the lawn in front of the fine brick house. This sampler is one of a small, important group all worked by Lancaster County girls of Pennsylvania German extraction. Another of this group, worked in 1825 by Sarah Elizabeth Cooper, is in the collection of the Chester County Historical Society. The samplers all portray the same house, lawn, fence and gate and the same tall lady with her bouquet. Both makers included, somewhat incongruously, depictions of the same side chair sitting on the lawn, the samplers are all framed with extravagant floral borders, and in each case the lettering was worked with light-colored threads for the first letter of each word. The fat swan nestled into the center of the lower border appears only on Maria’s sampler. The as-yetunknown instructress was working in Columbia, and that town is named on another one from this group. Maria Eby’s sampler, dated 1821, is the earliest known one of these samplers and we were delighted to have acquired it recently. (continued on the next page)
Maria Eby, Columbia, Lancaster County, PA, 1821 (cont.) The Eby family in southeastern Pennsylvania is documented by Ezra E. Eby in his 1889 published history, A Biographical History of the Eby Family. Mr. Eby states that it was Theodorus Eby, a Mennonite, born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1663, who availed himself of William Penn’s promise of free homes to persons of all religious denominations and joined numbers of other sects in removing to American and settling in Pennsylvania. Mr. Eby states, “They had this assurance, that once in Pennsylvania they could worship God according to the teachings of the Bible and the dictates of their own conscience, which they considered more than recompense compared with their losses and privations in forsaking their native lands.” Born on April 20, 1809, Maria Eby was the daughter of Peter and Margarette (Hess) Eby who married in 1788. Maria was the youngest of their nine children. She married a farmer, Daniel Wanner, also of Lancaster and they raised twelve children. In 1880, Maria was a widow, residing with a married daughter, in Lancaster County. She died in 1888 and is buried in a family plot in Weaverland Mennonite Cemetery. Maria worked her sampler in silk on linen and it remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine mahogany frame. Sampler size: 17” x 19¼”
Frame size: 21¾” x 24”
Price: $38,000.
Hitty W. Chase, Claremont, New Hampshire, 1824 Mehitable Woodbury Chase was born February 3, 1811, and stitched this very good sampler in 1824 at the age of 13. The sampler has wonderful color and great charm, featuring a classic and most appealing verse along with an endearing basket of flowers. It remains with a family note that has allowed for the specific identification of Miss Chase.
Hitty was the daughter of Daniel Chase and his third wife, Nancy Strowbridge. Daniel’s great grandfather, Aquila, was the first generation of the Chase family to emigrate from England to America. Daniel and Nancy lived in New Hampshire, where, in 1794 Daniel built a tavern in Claremont, New Hampshire: Daniel Chase’s Tavern. Mr. Chase was a Freemason, as well, and the Masonic Fraternity’s monthly meetings were held there. He kept the tavern until his death in 1840 when his son-in-law, Amos A. Watson, took over and renamed it Sullivan House. Amos was in fact Hitty’s husband; they wed in 1834. Hitty died in 1881. Amos’s brother later took over the business, and although the tavern has changed hands many times, it is still in operation today. Worked in silk on linen, Hitty’s sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a molded frame. Sampler size: 13½” x 10” Frame size: 16½” x 13” Price: $4800.
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Ann Woodmansee, School of E. T. Stephens, Cream Ridge, New Jersey, 1827 In volume II of Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework, 16501850, Betty Ring states, “Another group of New Jersey samplers can usually be recognized just by the style of the embroidered flowers and a few minor pictorial motifs. Several such pieces name the preceptress Eleanor T. Stephens and Cream Ridge Seminary also appears on two examples. This teacher evidently taught from 1827 until 1838 (probably in Cream Ridge, which is near Freehold in Monmouth County) ...” We are pleased to offer this fine, newly discovered sampler made by Ann Woodmansee in 1827; this brings the total of samplers known to have been worked “Under the tuition of E. T. Stephens” to five. Our sampler shares the early date of 1827 with that made by Mary Ann Hollinshead, a fine sampler from the Theodore H. Kapnek Collection and published in Glee Krueger’s A Gallery of American Samplers (Dutton, 1978) as figure 100. These samplers each feature an assortment of the characteristics known to have been taught by Eleanor Stephens, which include a spray of flowers on intertwined thorny stems, tall stylized trees, pairs of fruit baskets with curved handles, fat black rabbits and dogs, soaring birds, and on the later samplers, a deep green hill with a procession of white sheep. A border of queen’sstitched strawberries seems to have been preferred, and some samplers feature alphabets while others offer verse. The needlework is very accomplished, leaving no doubt as to the talents of the instructress and her students. The Woodmansee family of New Jersey began with Thomas Woodmansee who settled in Monmouth County by 1704. He was the son of Gabriel Woodmansee of New London, Connecticut and was recorded in A History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties Embracing a Genealogical Record of Earliest Settlers and Their Descendants by Edwin Salter (1890). Cream Ridge is a small village east and south of Trenton. Ann’s sampler descended in her family and is accompanied by some interesting family information. On the sampler, Ann states that she was in her 13th year in 1827, which would indicate that she was born circa 1815. Information provided by her descendants tells us that she seems to have been the daughter of Phebe Woodmansee who was born circa 1792, daughter of Daniel and Meriam Woodmansee. Ann is named in Daniel’s will of 1828 in which she is referred to as “child of my daughter Phebe.” Phebe married Daniel Gulick, a blacksmith and they lived in nearby West Windsor Township. Further research may indicate differently but it seems that our samplermaker may have been born to Phebe prior to her marriage. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a black painted frame. Sampler size: 16½” square Frame size: 18¾” square Price: $6800.
Canvaswork Picture, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1750 The daughters of prominent citizens throughout New England attended schools in the Boston area and learned to stitch extraordinary pictures on canvas. Generally these feature bucolic scenes of gentlefolk in settings with flora and fauna. Writing in Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, vol. 1, Betty Ring, states that these were in harmony with the literature of the period, by poets such as James Thomson and Ambrose Philips. Instructresses would draw the outlines of compositions directly onto the canvas and their students would make further decisions and then stitch the pictures, applying their skills in the needle arts. The makers of many of these unsigned canvaswork pictures are unknown but their accomplishments pay tribute to their talents.
We are pleased to offer this praiseworthy example, partially worked and partially unfinished, which has been highly regarded by collectors for 75 years. A gentleman on horseback and his trusty little dog chase a deer beneath a huge red bird and butterflies. The foreground is wonderfully embellished with an outstanding assortment of flowering plants. Another well-known canvaswork picture that is similarly unfinished is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and published in Girlhood Embroidery, as figure 45. Worked in wool and silk on linen, this is in very good condition with some minor weakness to the canvas. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine period frame with a sanded liner. Sampler size: 14½” x 17½” Price: $28,000.
Frame size: 19” x 22”
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Frances Harrison, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1812 Born on December 16, 1803, Frances Harrison was one of ten children of James and Charlotte (Noble) Harrison of Charlestown. An 1897 book entitled History of The Military Company of the Massachusetts Now Called The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts 1637 – 1888 (Boston, 1897) states that James Harrison was born in Great Britain in 1767 and emigrated to Boston with his parents. He established himself as a prosperous merchant and married Charlotte Noble, of Nobleborough and Damariscotta, Maine in 1796. They made their home in Charlestown, a harbor town on the Charles River that was incorporated into Boston in 1837.He was a deacon in the Baptist church and member of King Solomon’s Lodge, generally active in civic affairs. Additionally it was stated that he, “was a generous man, and was highly esteemed.” Mr. Harrison died in 1812, the same year that his daughter Frances worked this sampler. His estate was vast and welldocumented in The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1629-1818 by Thomas Bellows Wyman (Boston, 1879). Frances stitched this impressive sampler in 1812 when she was only 8 years old. A fine scene of a house set into a landscape decorates the piece, with little pieces of mica stitches onto the house for the windows. A pair of stately columns with a sawtooth archway, design devices that were gaining in popularity in the early 19th century, provides a handsome neo-classical framing to the composition. A lovely fruit basket and graceful flowering side borders finish the sampler well. Paint was used to color the linen for the sky and background, a technique that was employed on samplers made elsewhere in Massachusetts, as well. Frances married, as her second husband, Benjamin Gorham, a shipmaster; they had one child, a daughter, Lydia. The Gorham family had a long history in Barnstable, Massachusetts as ship captains and land owners, with plantations in Cuba. The sampler was worked in silk, mica and paint on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a maple frame. Sampler size: 16¾” x 16”
Frame size: 21” x 20¼”
Price: $8400.
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Eliza Bibby, America, 1834
While many samplers celebrate a maker’s family, school or town, we rarely come across examples that commemorate a maker’s country. This one was ably accomplished by Eliza Bibby who included a splendid depiction of her version of the Great Seal of the United States of America. The process of designing the official seal began on the evening of July 4 of 1776 and lasted fully six years. In 1782 the third committee to work on this important project approved the design, determining that the seal would feature a large eagle with a striped shield on its breast, and a clutch of arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other. Other details included the inclusion of thirteen stars and a banner in the eagle’s beak. Deborah Harding’s fine book, Stars and Stripes: Patriotic Motifs in American Folk Art (Rizzoli, 2002) is very informative on this subject, as well as the use of this seal in various forms of folk art. Eliza’s deep blue eagle appears in front of four stylized and draped American flags, and it floats above thirteen stars; her eagle clutches arrows only and does not include a banner in his beak. Additionally, a large brick house with a roof and foundation of the same deep blue coloration sits on a moss green lawn with tall potted flowers and little pine trees. The sampler is dated 1834, and she stated that she was 14 years old at the time. There are indications that she may have lived in northern New Jersey but her specific identify is not known. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in very good condition; it has been conservation mounted into a mahogany and maple cornerblock frame. Sampler size: 16½” x 17”
Frame size: 20” x 20½”
Price: $5200.
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Rebecah Plumer, Newbury, Massachusetts, 1822 Provenance: Collection of Betty Ring Many excellent samplers were made in Newbury and the nearby towns in northeastern Massachusetts in the 18th and early 19th centuries. They share characteristics and visual clues that define the group and that can be found on this fine, large family record sampler inscribed, “Rebecah Plumer, was born, October 12, 1811, wrought this, in the Summer of 1822.” The family is well-documented in The Plumer Genealogy: Francis Plumer Who Settled at Newbury, Massachusetts & Some of His Descendants (Salem, 1917) by Sidney Perley. John Plumber (1770-1861) was a yeoman [landowner and farmer] who married Sarah Moody (1772-1853), also from an early family from that area. Two of their children died before the sampler was made and they are memorialized in tombs under the feathery willow trees: Amos M. Plumer who died at age 19 just months before the sampler was made and Jonathan Plumer who died at age 5 in 1806. In 1830 Rebecah married Ebenezer S. Keyes and they seem to have had a son born in 1835. After Ebenezer’s death she married Joseph Oliver. This sampler was in the collection of Betty Ring, the esteemed collector and scholar of important American samplers and silk embroideries. Many of Betty’s samplers served as the inspiration for her research and writing; indeed Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850 includes a large section entitled Embroideries of Newbury and Newburyport in volume I, pages 114 to 129. One of the notable needlework techniques that Rebecah demonstrated on her sampler was the French knot stitch and she produced hundreds of them. The lower left corner of the lawn is filled with French knots which form a beautifully shaded shrub. The sampler combines delicate stitches, the thin black lines forming lettering and borders for example, with richly worked stitches creating the lawns and foliage. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a painted frame. Sampler size: 25½” x 16½”
Frame size: 28¾” x 19¾”
Price: $5400.
Roll-up Pocket, Initialed H.N., American, circa 1800
Small needleworked gifts such as pincushions, purses and pockets were made by and presented from one stitcher to another in the 18th and 19th centuries. As these weren’t made to be framed they frequently show signs of use and wear. It is therefore an even greater rarity to find a treasure such as this, a very lovely roll-up pocket that is in fine condition. Each tiny pocket face is well-composed on its own, with flowers, baskets, birds and solidly-stitched patternings, and they combine beautifully; additionally the back of this is a wonderful Irish stitched pattern. Worked in silk on canvas with the original tape woven binding at the edges, this is in excellent condition with minor wear to the tape binding. Size: 15� x 3�
Price: $6800.
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Lucy M. Beecher, Woodbridge, Connecticut, 1808 Samplers and needlework made in Connecticut are the subject of the excellent book entitled Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740-1840 (Connecticut Historical Society, 2010), by Susan P. Schoelwer. A great number of visually appealing and interesting samplers are documented and illustrated in this excellent book. Newly discovered Connecticut samplers continue to emerge and we are pleased to present this praiseworthy example. In 1808, Lucy Maria Beecher worked her sampler, which exhibits clear influence of the 18th century samplers from the region. The strong vertical format, the beautiful border composed of a variety of flowers and the detailed pictorial scene along the bottom render this sampler an outstanding example. The sampler is unusually tightly worked throughout and was executed in a fine and varied palette. Some of the details that distinguish this sampler are the lady and gentleman strolling with their parasol, the stunning blue double-chimney house and fifteen birds worked into the borders and the excellent scene anchoring the lower portion. The Beecher family descended from immigrant ancestor John Beecher who came from Kent, England by 1638, settling in New Haven. Lucy Maria Beecher was the fourth of seven children, born on June 2, 1794 to Ebenezer and Mary (Baldwin) Beecher. The family resided in Woodbridge, Connecticut, a town adjacent to and northwest of New Haven. Inscribed, “Lucy M Beech / er AGD 14 years & 3 months Septemb / er 6 1808,” Lucy further stitched her middle name, Maria, at the end of the alphabets. Interesting to note is the fact that published records and census information indicate that Lucy frequently used Maria as her given name throughout her life. In 1845, Lucy married Deacon Samuel Bradley of Clinton, New York. At some point she divorced Samuel and by 1880 was in Woodbridge living with her nephew and his family. Lucy died in 1882 and is buried in Milford Cemetery in Woodbridge. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a beveled cherry frame with outer bead. Sampler size: 18” x 13” Price: $14,500.
Frame size: 21¼” x 16¼”
Lydia Jacob, Hingham, Massachusetts, circa 1755
We are delighted to have had the opportunity to acquire this splendid little embroidered picture, which was made circa 1755 by a young lady from a prominent, early family of Hingham, Massachusetts. A graceful, free-form composition of flowers and birds on leafy, chain-stitched vines presents outstanding aesthetics. This descended in the maker’s family for many generations, accompanied by specific family notations, allowing for a full history of the maker. The maker is Lydia Jacob, the daughter of Joseph Jacob and his wife Ruth (Wilson) Jacob, described by George Lincoln in History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts (Reprint, 1987). The Jacob family in Hingham was established by an early planter, Nicholas Jacob, who left Old Hingham in England and settled in Hingham, colony of Massachusetts, in 1633. Lydia was the youngest of their four children, born September 9, 1739. In 1760 Lydia married, and the great likelihood is that she completed her needlework prior to that event. Her husband, John Lincoln (1735-1830) was also from an important local family; indeed Nicholas Jacob, Lydia’s great great grandfather was a cousin and fellow settler of Thomas Lincoln. John and Lydia resided in Hingham Center and he was in active service during the Revolutionary War, the captain of a military company. Their seven children were born between 1762 and 1781. Lydia died at age 91 in Hingham. Her embroidered picture, along with other early family objects, was preserved by Olive Jacob Loring. A small family paper with Lydia’s name on it is secured underneath the embroidery by its early straight pin. This was worked in silk on fine linen and has been conservation mounted. It is in very good condition with some minor weakness and loss, and is now in an early Hogarth frame. Sampler size: 10½” square
Frame size: 13” square
Price: $8400.
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Sarah Winder, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1810 Sarah Winder, a young lady living in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia, made this splendid sampler in 1810. Filled with pictorial elements that center on an excellent house and lawn scene, Sarah framed her composition with a beautifully worked and highly intricate border, one of the most interesting borders that we have come across. The windows in the house are filled with lustrous blue satin-stitches and two fat birds sit atop the chimneys. Other birds, with little branches in their beaks, perch on feathery trees. Contrasting nicely with these trees is the crisp, stepped lawn and pair of highly stylized diamond-leaf trees. A large heart tops off this handsome scene and a delicate trellis and four birds share space with Sarah’s inscription below the lawn. The vocabulary of stitches and the quality of the needlework is of the highest caliber. Born in February of 1794, Sarah was the daughter of John and Mary (Booz) Winder of Lower Makefield Township in Bucks County. John Winders (1735-1804) had 20 children with 2 wives; Sarah was the eldest of the second set of children. She was approximately 16 years in 1810. There is an interesting abbreviation that likely refers to the name of her teacher; it appears as “M..y M…..y”. We have found this technique used on other samplers and happen to have one of these currently which we offer on page 6, the sampler made by Beulah Passmore, who abbreviated the name of many of her family members in the same fashion. In 1812, Sarah married Abraham Knight, and they lived in nearby Montgomery County. The Knight family has a long and illustrious history in Pennsylvania, beginning with Giles Knight (1653-1726) who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1682 along with William Penn. Sarah and Abraham became the parents of four children and Sarah died in 1839. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled cherry frame with outer bead. Sampler size: 16¾” x 17”
Frame size: 20¼” x 20½”
Price: $14,000.
Abagail Haines, Betsy Pickering’s School, North Hampton, New Hampshire, 1814 A fine, tightly worked sampler, this features a central basket of flowers and an overall composition of an appealing octagon outline and bordered with finely worked leafy vines and flowers. Underneath the basket of flowers and contained within its own octagonal enclosure is the inscription, “By Abagail Haines at Betsy Pickering’s School in North Hampton July the 23rd in the 14th year of her age AD 1814.” The sampler is greatly worked with many alphabets and an interesting verse, which we find published in London in 1797 in Selected Epigrams in Two Volumes. It speaks of two characters, Myrtilla and Aurora, and notes the rewards available to the early riser. Abagail was the daughter of a farmer from North Hampton, New Hampshire, Abner Haines (17471824) and his wife and cousin, Priscilla Haines (1754-1840). The published history of the family, Deacon Samuel Haines: His Descendants in America 1635-1901 (North Hampton, NH, 1902), states that Abner was a “good and affectionate man” and that the “widow shared his bounty, and in him the orphan found a friend, the way-faring man partook of his board, and under his roof the stranger found shelter and forgot his home.” Abagail was the last of eight children, born March 9, 1801. In 1814 she attended the school of Betsy Pickering. Betsy was born in 1796, and as a young woman and prior to her marriage in 1815, Betsy took advantage of one of the few acceptable jobs available to a young lady. This school is not one known to us previously but its clear that both teacher and student were knowledgeable and in possession of much skill in this field. Abagail Haines didn’t marry and remained in North Hampton, living with a sister and a brother. She died in 1877. Besty Pickering married Wells Healy of nearby Hampton Falls and they had seven children; she died in 1876. The lives of these two women may well have continued to intersect throughout the years. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled mahogany frame. Sampler size: 16¼” x 12½” Price: $4800.
Frame size: 19½” x 15¾”
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Bathsheba A. Puder, Hackettstown, New Jersey, 1836 The Puder family in America began with Johannes Puder who was born in Germany, circa 1749. His son, John Puder (c.1797-1872), and his wife Anna resided in Stillwater, Sussex County, northern New Jersey where they raised seven children including Bathsheba, who was born circa 1820. Bathsheba worked this handsome sampler in 1836 in nearby Hackettstown, which was likely where she attended a school. An unusual border surrounds carefully worked alphabets, moralistic verse and pictorial motifs. “Love and Fear God” is worked in a very small scale appearing just below the religious poems. Strong colors were used extensively and the visual appeal of the sampler is obvious. In 1840 Bathsheba married Aaron Decker and they resided in Port Jervis, New York, where Aaron listed his occupation as a carpenter and builder of railroad cars. They remained there until at least 1870. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and painted frame. Sampler size: 17” square Frame size: 19” square Price: $3650.
Miniature Sampler, Eliza Cooper, Rainham, Essex, England, 1849 This small treasure, a miniature sampler, was worked by Eliza Cooper in Rainham, an agricultural village east of London on the Thames and now part of the city’s suburbs. With alphabets, a numerical progression and a neatly worked flower pot flanked by stylized trees, the sampler reflects the sensibility of early to mid 19th English samplermaking. Eliza may be the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Cooper, residents of Rainham as recorded in the 1841 and 1851 census records; Eliza was born in 1837. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition, now conservation mounted into a 19th century oak frame. Sampler size: 5¾” x 4” Price: $1350.
Frame size: 7¾” x 6”
Keturah J. Carter, school of Ann H. Thorn, Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1830
Ohio samplers are far rarer than those from states along the eastern seaboard and have been the subject of much research and writing over the years. Documented instructresses include Ann H. Thorn of Smithville, Jefferson County and samplers worked by her students are amongst the finest of all known Ohio needleworks. We offer this handsome and beautifully developed sampler made by twelve-year-old Keturah Carter who, along with her younger sister Achsah, attended Mrs. Thorn’s school where they each worked outstanding, large samplers. The works by the Carter sisters were on view at the ground-breaking exhibition at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, of Lancaster, Ohio in 2003, Ohio is My Dwelling Place: Schoolgirl Embroideries 1800-1850, curated by Sue Studebaker. Mrs. Studebaker’s book of the same title illustrates Keturah’s sampler as figure 170 and her sister Achsah’s as figure 171. Achsah’s sampler was part of the highly respected collection of Theodore H. Kapnek. (continued on the next page)
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Keturah J. Carter, school of Ann H. Thorn, Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio, 1830 (cont.) Writing in Ohio is My Dwelling Place, as well as in her 1988 book on Ohio needlework, Mrs. Studebaker states that the teacher, Ann (Gumery) Thorn, was a Quaker and member of the Short Creek Quarterly Monthly Meeting, and that she likely taught at a Quaker school rather than on her own. The signature motifs that have been identified from samplers made under her instruction are in evidence on Keturah’s fine sampler: chevron-decorated pots of flowers, three-tiered willow trees and large flower blossom, tightly encircled with small stiff leaves and placed in a low basket or pot. Keturah was born on September 11, 1817 to a farmer, William Carter and his wife Ruth (Dean) Carter who were residing in Smithfield, a small town near Steubenville. William and Ruth were each born in Maryland and married there in 1814. They settled in Ohio by 1820 where they raised eleven children. The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a cherry and maple cornerblock frame. Sampler size: 21” x 20”
Frame size: 25½” x 24½”
Price: $32,000.
Catharine Davies, England, 1844
(continued on the next page)
Catharine Davies, England, 1844 (cont.) This sampler, stitched by 20-year-old Catharine Davies, offers excellent pictorial charm and a very good color palette. Centered on a stately ship, with flags and pennants flying and a dinghy trailing behind, is the caption, “the ship is sailing to the East,” a statement that may have had personal application to the samplermaker’s life. Above the ship are highly geometric three-building churches, each building topped with a prominent cross. Although the hand is somewhat unsophisticated, the format of the sampler is handsomely structured in the classic English symmetrical manner. Worked in wool on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a molded, painted frame. Sampler size: 17¼” x 17½”
Frame size: 19½” x 19¾”
Price: $2450.
Barbara Myers, Pennsylvania, 1841
The bold, saturated colors of Barbara Myers’s sampler exemplify Pennsylvania needlework of the 1840s and were accomplished in the merino wool thread that was gaining in popularity at that time. The house, trees and trios of various flowers are quite nice, and unusually, those across the middle register sprout from what appear to be window boxes rather than urns or baskets. The eight-pointed geometric stars are classic Pennsylvania motifs; the overstuffed baskets in the top corners and potted flowers in urns in the bottom corners are regional characteristics, as well. The three verses Barbara stitched onto her sampler were used by many 19th century schoolgirls. “This work in hand my friends may have / When I am dead and In my grave,” contrasts well with the two other verses of remembrance, juxtaposing the charm and vibrancy of the young girl’s composition. Worked in wool on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition with one minor area of loss to the wool on a tree trunk. It has been conservation mounted and in a fine figured maple and cherry frame. Sampler size: 12” x 16¼”
Frame size: 16” x 20¼”
Price: $2600.
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Caroline E. Lord, Danvers, Massachusetts, 1838 At age 10 in 1838, Caroline Elisabeth Lord worked this handsome sampler, thanking her parents for the education and opportunities provided to her. With its careful lettering and composition, splendid floral border and two very small scale pictorial scenes, the sampler serves as fine proof of Caroline’s education. The Lord family lived in Ipswich, a town north of Danvers, where Caroline’s great great great grandfather, Robert Lord (1602-1683), one of the original pioneers, first settled as early as 1635. Generations later Caroline was born on August 10, 1827 to a farmer, Caleb Lord and his wife, Elisabeth (Harris) Lord. Caroline lived in Ipswich and remained single. She died in 1909 and is buried along with her parents in one of the early cemeteries of Ipswich. The sampler descended to a nice or nephew, a child of her younger brother Nathaniel, who preserved it along with a late 19th century photo taken of their aunt. Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition, conservation mounted into its original mahogany frame. Sampler size: 16” x 17” Frame size: 19” x 20” Price: $3400.
Louisa Wainwright, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1809 Very occasionally we come across a sampler of a highly unusual nature and we are delighted to be able to offer this fascinating example. Worked by an eleven-year-old schoolgirl, Louisa Wainwright of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, this sampler is a testimonial to the talents of a highly sophisticated schoolmistress who was teaching in this small Berkshire County town, designing samplers with extraordinary aesthetics and employing techniques that are almost without comparison. (continued on the next page)
Louisa Wainwright, Great Barrington, MA, 1809 (cont.) Two other samplers, dated 1807 and 1808, are known to have been worked under this same schoolmistress. Abigail Bush’s 1807 sampler is published by Glee Krueger in New England Samplers to 1840, as figure 65. Betty Ring, in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. I, published Nancy Sibley’s 1808 example as figure 17; the sampler is now in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. All three samplermakers worked outstanding borders onto black silk, with fine embroidery and couched metallic threads. The borders feature tiny stitched aphorisms or cautionary phrases, such as “Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth” and “Virtue a wreath of amaranthine flowers will twine thy name in praise,” within banner-like enclosures. Additionally, the interior of Louisa’s sampler is solidly stitched so that all of the background linen behind the alphabets and inscription is covered with needlework. Louisa Wainwright was the daughter of David and Ruby (Younglove) Wainwright who were married in Great Barrington on February 19, 1776. David Wainwright was a prominent citizen of the town, a selectman and leader of the Episcopal church. Louisa, one of the twelve Wainwright children, was born in 1798. Repeated mention of the family appears in History of Great Barrington 1676-1882, published in 1928. The family established the Wainwright Inn (located on South Main Street in Great Barrington) and it remained in the family for generations. On February 9, 1825 Louisa married Sidney Horton in Great Barrington. She died in 1875. The sampler was worked in silk and metallic thread on silk and linen and remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a 19th century gold leaf frame. Sampler size: 14½” x 11¾”
Frame size: 18” x 15¼”
Price: $44,000.
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Martha Furber, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, 1831
In 1831 twelve-year-old Martha Furber worked this fine sampler, featuring alphabets and a listing of family information along with a delightful register of houses in an unusual village scene. Martha’s parents were David Furber and his wife Sally (Haley) Furber who resided in Northwood, New Hampshire, east of Concord. Described in the comprehensive publication, Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire (1908), David Furber was a farmer and saw-miller who built a house in nearby Furber’s Corner circa 1814, where the family resided for many decades. Martha was the only daughter and their youngest child. She married a farmer, Samuel F. Leavitt of Northwood and they remained there, living next door to Martha’s parents. The sampler is dated 1831 and this appears at the end of the first alphabet. The initials, LF, which were worked at the upper corners of the house scene, may have been those of Martha’s teacher, perhaps also a family member. Worked in linen on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in its fine original mahogany beveled frame. Sampler size: 11” x 16½”
Frame size: 19½” x 14”
Price: $3800.
Mary Wisby, Ballykelly Female School, County Derry, Northern Ireland, 1845 Established in 1824, the Ladies’ Hibernian Female School Society served to encourage Irish women to open and operate Female Schools in their local villages and towns. The schools were funded by collection and distribution of charitable funds, and by 1845 the Society claimed to support over 230 schools. Needlework of various types was integral to the curriculum and, very occasionally, we acquire samplers worked at these Female School. This excellent, little sampler is signed, “Mary Wisby Ballykelly Female School May 16th 1845,” and was worked with great precision. Ballykelly, translating to mean Kelly’s Town, is a coastal village 15 miles east of Derry and established in the 17th century, built up by the Fishmonger’s Guild. According to published histories, their Female School was established in 1830 with one Protestant teacher and 109 pupils. Worked in silk on wool, the sampler is in excellent condition, and conservation mounted into a 19th century beveled frame. Sampler size: 7½” x 6” Frame size: 9¾” x 8¼” Price: $2800.
Mary Catharine Metcger, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1836 When Pennsylvania German samplermakers turned to pictorial scenes of houses and trees, the result was often a delightful, freeform sampler. With an appealing naiveté, Mary Catharine Metcger depicted a doublechimney brick house with a tall leafy vine growing up its side and a tree with fine silvery leaves grounded in a low twohandled basket. The religious verse that Mary included was published in an 1816 book by Noah Webster, entitled The American Spelling Book Containing the Rudiments of the English Language for the Use of Schools in the United States. The sampler came with a notation that it was from Adamstown, Pennsylvania and we believe it’s likely that the family name was also spelled “Metzger.” The family was a large one; therefore we are unable to specifically identify the samplermaker. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and it has been conservation mounted into a curly maple frame. Sampler size: 11¾” square
Frame size: 14¾” square
Price: $3200.
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Sarah Alice Devoe, Catholic School, Cincinnati, Ohio, circa 1845
Sue Studebaker illustrates this rare sampler in her book, Ohio is My Dwelling Place: Schoolgirl Embroideries 1800-1850 (Ohio University Press, 2002), and states, “This sampler has a naïve perspective and charm and is unlike any other Ohio sampler documented. Sarah framed the carefully stitched house very well, adding rather ominous clouds at the top and a large-scale flowering vine around the sides and bottom of the canvas. Sarah Alice Devoe’s sampler is not dated, but she stitched beside her name the words “work done at the Catholic School in Cincinnati.” … The school that Sarah attended … may well have been the Sixth Street Academy, organized in 1840 by eight members of the Sisters of Notre Dame.” A family headed by Samuel Devoe lived in Cincinnati in 1820 and Sarah Alice was related no doubt. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a black molded and painted frame. Sampler size: 11½” x 17”
Frame size: 13½” x 19”
Price: $8800.
Mary Cottam, England, 1814 We find this English sampler appealing on many levels. A letterperfect alphabet, a lengthy poem extolling God’s wise governance of nature and a finely worked pictorial scene are all framed by an excellent meandering vine with red, gold and beige flowers. The scene depicts a handsome brick dovecote at left; these round multi-storied structures were built and used throughout England (continued on the next page)
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Mary Cottam, England, 1814 (cont.) for centuries. Doves entered at the aperture in the roof, shown here surrounded by the perched and flying birds, and farmers entered by the door at ground level to harvest the dove’s eggs and squabs. An oversized fruit basket with a large bird sitting on its handle is centered in this register and a pair of billy goats under an airy tree finishes the scene nicely. The maker was Mary Cottam and she dated her sampler 1814. She worked in silk on wool and it remains in excellent condition with some minor darning to the wool in the lower right corner. It has been conservation mounted and is in a black molded, painted frame. Sampler size: 17¼” x 13” Frame size: 19½” x 15¼” Price: $3600.
Patty Keyes, age 9, Westford, Massachusetts, Linsey-Woolsey, 1806 This fine small sampler, worked on green linsey-woolsey fabric, was made by Patty Keyes of Westford, a town northwest of Boston, towards the New Hampshire border. Along with alphabets, Patty worked an appealing two-line couplet, “The daily labours of the bee Awaken my soul to industry,” and signed the sampler, “Patty Keyes Westford AE 9.” A delicate chain-stitched vine with buds, flowers and leaves frames the sampler well. Patty was born on May 18, 1797, the daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Boyden) Keyes. In 1822, in Westford, Patty married a farmer, Kendall Swallow, and they resided in Dunstable, Massachusetts where they raised eight children who were born between 1825 and 1841. Patty died in 1874. The sampler was worked in silk on linsey-woolsey and is excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled cherry frame with maple bead. Sampler size: 12¾” x 10¾”
Frame size: 15¾” x 13¾”
Price: $3400.
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Silk Embroidered Memorial to Mary Fletcher Spalding, Chelmsford, Massachusetts, circa 1810
Writing in Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650 – 1850, vol. I, Betty Ring states that the majority of early 19th century mourning silk embroideries “appear to have been made as a record and a decoration rather than an expression of current grief, and they were the result of fashion rather than melancholy.� These mourning pictures, focus on a specific person, recently deceased, and the most interesting ones feature a stylishly costumed young lady, likely a portrait of the needleworker herself. The subject of this very fine silk embroidery is Mrs. Mary Fletcher Spalding of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, who died on June 9, 1803. Born in 1748, she was the daughter of Josiah and Mary (Chamberlain) Fletcher. In 1771, she married Zebulon Spalding (1741-1829), also a resident of Chelmsford, and they became the parents of eleven children born between 1772 and 1792, seven daughters and four sons. We can assume that it was made by one of their younger daughters. Set against the pink sky of the setting sun, this exceptional memorial is composed with the depth and skill of a classically trained painter. The gold and greens of the weeping willow hang gracefully over the monument and mourner, also in iridescent shades of gold. Situated at the edge of a pond, the needleworked bank reflects the pink of the watercolored sky; and a thin silk stitched band in pale gold creates a glowing horizon line in the distance. The quietude and serenity are apparent. (continued on the next page)
Silk Embroidered Memorial to Mary Fletcher Spalding, Chelmsford, Massachusetts, circa 1810 (cont.) Worked in silk and watercolor on silk, this embroidery is in excellent condition with slight loss to the needlework at the lower left. It remains in a period gold leaf frame with a replaced eglomisé glass. Sight size: 20” x 18¼”
Frame size: 27½” x 25¾”
Price: $7200.
Angelina Upton, Dracut, Massachusetts, 1825
This handsome sampler includes depictions of a Federal house, a large cornucopia, little trees and large lustrous flowers. Signed, “Angelina Upton wrought this aged 12 July 18 1825,” it is an excellent example of the praiseworthy samplers that come out of northernmost Massachusetts. Angelina lived in Dracut, a town situated on the Merrimack River near the New Hampshire border. She was the eldest of the three children of Reuben and Sally (Abbot) Upton, who were married in Dracut in 1810. She was born in September of 1812 in Dracut and married Lowell Lawrence, a farmer, in 1834. They lived in nearby Tyngsborough and became the parents of four children, Lowell, Daniel, Lucy and Benjamin. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in very good condition with very minor loss; it has been conservation mounted into a mahogany frame with a gilt liner. Sampler size: 17¼” x 15¾”
Frame size: 22¾” x 21¼”
Price: $7800.
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Pictorial Dutch Sampler, Zeeland, the Netherlands, 1791 Many beautifully designed and stitched pictorial motifs fill this excellent Dutch sampler, which was made in the province of Zeeland in 1791. It greatly resembles another, which is published as figure 158 in Over-merklappen Gesproken… by M.G.A. Schipper-van Lottum, a 1783 sampler that features all of the salient elements shown on our sampler (in the collection of the Dutch Costume Museum in The Hague). Both makers included the same fine central domed-top building, the toothy fox, resting deer, rampant lion, pair of exotic birds in the upper corners, tall vases of flowers, angels flanking the date and many other smaller elements.
In general, many Dutch motifs bear specific and well-documented meanings and we find it interesting to note these. The fox and resting deer both represent wisdom and the rampant lion holding a sword and arrows denotes Dutch national independence from Spain in 1648. Joshua and Caleb, the Spies of Canaan, carry a story of hope for the future and the Dutch Free Maiden represents liberty. Fruited trees, open-tail peacocks, pears, cherries and roosters further decorate the sampler. The samplermaker stitched many sets of initials on either side of the building and certainly these include her own, as well, perhaps as those of her teacher and classmates. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame. Sampler size: 18½” square
Frame size: 20½” square
Price: $3400.
Rebekah Wetherbee, Bolton, Massachusetts, 1829
Featuring a handsome, well-defined scene of a house with portico dependencies on a broad lawn with trees, this fine sampler is nicely inscribed, “Wrought by Rebekah Wetherbee Bolton May 1829 Aged 10 yrs.” Large hearts and diamonds fill space along the bottom and a three-sided border of white flowers on a leafy vine surrounds the sampler well. The largest alphabet, carefully worked in pale blue silk and formed by the eyelet stitch, dominates the center of this fine sampler. Rebekah’s parents, Reuben Wetherbee (1772-1837) and Rebekah Gates Wetherbee (1775-1846) lived initially in Stow, Massachusetts and then settled in the nearby town of Bolton in Worcester County. They had five children between 1800 and 1819; Rebekah was the fifth and last of their children, born on October 13, 1819. Some members of the family became prominent citizens of Bolton and the house built circa 1835 by Rebekah’s older brother, Europe Wetherbee, at 19 East End Road is now one of Bolton’s historic homes. In 1851 Rebekah married Frank Bottomly, a millwright and textile manufacturer who was born in England. They resided in Athol where Frank became a prosperous “shoddy manufacturer” – one who recycles or remanufactured wools using old clothing that is taken back a fibrous state and then re-spun into yarn. They had at least one child, a son born in 1855. Rebekah died in 1898 at age 79. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded mahogany frame. Sampler size: 16¼” x 17¾”
Frame size: 18¼” x 19¾”
Price: $4800.
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(detail of sampler by Sarah Winder, page 18)
(detail of silk embroidery by Sarah Fitz, page 5)
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(detail of sampler by Frances Harrison, page 12)
(detail of sampler by Rebekah Wetherbee, page 33)
(detail of sampler from the school of Mrs. Mary Ralston, page 2)
SELECTED NEEDLEWORK BIBLIOGRAPHY . Washington, DC: DAR
Allen, Gloria Seaman. Museum, 1989.
, 1738-1860, Maryland Historical Society, 2007.
Bolton, Ethel Stanwood and Coe, Eve Johnston. Boston: The Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1921. .
Browne, Clare and Jennifer Wearden. London: V&A Publications, 1999.
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Edmonds, Mary Jaene. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. Herr, Patricia T.
. The Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster County, Pa, 1996. .
Hersh, Tandy and Charles. Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1991. Humphrey, Carol. . Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
. Needleprint & Ackworth School Estates Limited, 2006.
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Ivey, Kimberly Smith. Colonial Williamsburg and Curious Works Press, 1997. .
Krueger, Glee F. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978.
. Sturbridge, Massachusetts: Old Sturbridge Village, 1978.
Parmal, Pamela A. Ring, Betty.
. Boston, Massachusetts: MFA Publications, 2000. . New York: E.P. Dutton, 1987. . Knopf, 1993. .
Providence: The Rhode Island Historical Society, 1983. . New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968.
Schiffer, Margaret B.
Schoelwer, Susan P. Connecticut: The Connecticut Historical Society, 2010.
. Hartford,
Studebaker, Sue. . Warren County Historical Society, 1988. . Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2002. Swan, Susan B. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977.
(detail of sampler by Patty Keyes, page 29)
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Conservation Mounting of Antique Samplers and Needlework Because of the important role that condition plays in the field of antique samplers and needlework, we strive to insure that these pieces undergo proper preservation while in our care. Below is a step-by-step description of the “conservation mounting� process. Our techniques are simple and straightforward; we remove the dust and dirt particles mechanically, never wet-cleaning the textiles. We use only acid-free materials and museum-approved techniques throughout the process. Please call us if you have any questions in this regard. q
Carefully clean the piece using our special vacuum process.
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Mount it by means of hand-sewing onto acid-free museum board that has been slip-cased with fabric appropriate to the piece itself, and at the same time stabilize any holes or weak areas.
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Re-fit the item back into its original frame, or custom-make a reproduction of an 18th or early 19th century frame using one of our exclusive patterns.
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Supply a reverse painted black glass mat, if appropriate, done in correct antique manner.
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When necessary, install TruVue Conservation Clear glass which blocks 97% of the harmful ultraviolet light.
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In the framing process, the needlework is properly spaced away from the glass, the wooden frame is sealed, and the dust cover is attached with special archival tape.
(detail of sampler by Catharine Louisa Cornell, page 3)
(detail of sampler by Mary Hogeland, page 4)