Samplings: XLIII

VOLUME XLIII

(detail of sampler by Patience Baker, page 2)

Copyright Š 2013 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 43rd 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 37 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 larger 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, some of 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.

www.samplings.com Please check our website for frequent updates and additions to our inventory

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 Florentina Tabiel Andrade, Spain, 1839............................................................................. 14 Patience Baker, Martha Pease Davis School, Warren, Rhode Island, 1792.......................... 2 Elizabeth Benson, England, 1756...................................................................................... 21 Polly Blydenburgh, Durham, New Hampshire, 1794......................................................... 11 Elizabeth Bunker, Nantucket, Massachusetts, circa 1805.................................................... 8 Elizabeth Cleveland, Miss Maria Barton School, Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, 1840......... 23 Mary Dickinson, England, 1791........................................................................................... 9 Dutch Motif Sampler, Zeeland, Holland, 1778..................................................................... 6 Susannah N. T. Fogg, Braintree, Massachusetts, 1807....................................................... 14 Margaret Goodsir, Scotland, 1760...................................................................................... 17 Eliza B. Hammond, Rock Run Seminary, Harford County, Maryland, 1824...................... 30 Sarah E. Hanna, Harford County, Maryland, 1842............................................................. 18 Sidney Caroline Hendricks, Lititz Moravian Girls’ School, Lancaster Co., PA, 1823........ 25 Mary D. Herring, Malden, Massachusetts, 1803................................................................. 31 Mary Hibberd, Westtown Boarding School, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1806............. 29 Mary Ann Hoch, Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1832........................ 22 Jane M. Huey, Mary Tidball School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1840.................................. 7 Mary Huston, Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania, circa 1818.................................. 15 Rebecca Ide, Attleborough, Massachusetts, circa 1799...................................................... 27 Sidney Jefferis, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1804......................................................... 10 Mary Key, Kilrenny, Fife, Scotland, 1837........................................................................... 26 Jane McCullock, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1772.............................................................. 5 Elizabeth S. Mish, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1813........................................................... 13 Eliza R. Phelps, Norfolk, Connecticut, 1809...................................................................... 30 Agnes McMullan Plunket, Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia, 1829.......................... 4 Elizabeth Porter, England, 1816........................................................................................ 21 Yvette Reverdito, Institution des Dames Africaines, Oran, Algeria, 1933.......................... 20 Sally Robinson, “White Dove Group,” Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1797.............................. 32 Ann Simmons, Ann Marsh School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1792................................. 1 Lydia B. Smith, Providence, Rhode Island, 1819............................................................... 12 Elethea Soule, Waterville, Maine, 1811.............................................................................. 26 Louisa K. Spade, American, 1833....................................................................................... 15 Elizabeth Covil Spurling, Greenwich, England, 1826........................................................ 20 Achsah Ann Waller, Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, circa 1840........................................ 28 Cornelia Anna Wells, Mayfield, Fulton County, New York, 1833....................................... 33 Sarah D. White, Newton, Massachusetts, 1807.................................................................. 19 Elizabeth Willits, Maiden Creek Quaker School, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1804........ 24

(detail of sampler by Rebecca Ide, page 27)

Ann Simmons, Ann Marsh School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1792

Ann Simmons’s extraordinary sampler is one of the most significant discoveries to come to light in the last several years. Made at the school of Ann Marsh in Philadelphia, it closely relates to the important sampler made by Sarah Cooper, also in 1792, formerly in the collection of Betty Ring and published as fig. 361 in vol. II of Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650 – 1850 (Knopf 1993), a section entitled “Philadelphia’s Opulent Embroidery.” These two samplers are remarkably similar in composition and technique; clearly Sarah Cooper and Ann Simmons worked their samplers side by side. Needlework historians consider Ann Marsh, along with her mother, Elizabeth Marsh, to be the most important of all American instructresses. They taught the daughters of the most prominent families from Philadelphia and its immediate areas, and both mother and daughter were obviously highly talented needlewomen. Mrs. Ring described the type of sampler made by Ann Simmons and Sarah Cooper as, “most spectacular … with delicate pictorial embroidery.” Characteristics shared by both Sarah’s and Ann’s samplers include the large center oval with a shepherd, shepherdess and sheep, the exemplary garland of flowers formed of minute tent stitches, the smaller ovals with letter-prefect verse and the inscription along the bottom. Both Sarah and Ann exhibited strong aptitude in the needle arts. (continued on the next page)

1

2

Ann Simmons, Ann Marsh School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1792

Ann Simmons was the daughter of Quakers, Edward and Elizabeth (Gillingham) Simmons, who were married in 1773. They were members of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Northern District, and Ann’s birth in 1778 was recorded there, as well.

Copies of the Meeting’s records are among the papers in the file of documentation that accompanies this sampler. Ann’s maternal ancestors descended from Yeamans Gillingham, a Friend who came from England circa 1690 and settled on land in Frankford, just north of Philadelphia, which was deeded from William Penn’s commissioner. He was one of the overseers of Abington Meeting and much information about the family is published in Gillingham Family: Descendants of Yeamans Gillingham, compiled by Harrold Edgar Gillingham (Philadelphia, 1901). Yeamans’ granddaughter, Elizabeth Gillingham, was Ann Simmons’s mother.

Ann remained single and transferred her membership to the Green Street Monthly Meeting in 1838. Notice of her death at age 86 in 1864 was published in the Friends Intelligencer, vol. 21.

The sampler was worked in silk and coiled metal on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a period gold leaf frame.

Sampler size: 20¼” x 19”

Frame size: 23” x 21¾”

Price upon request.

Patience Baker, Martha Pease Davis School, Warren, Rhode Island, 1792 A small but compelling group of pictorial samplers, dating between 1792 and 1803, was worked under the tutelage of instructress Mrs. Martha Pease Davis (1743-1806). Mrs. Davis taught in Warren, Rhode Island, which was then an important seaport town with a successful ship-building industry. These samplers are strikingly similar to some of those worked at the more well-known school of Mary Balch of Providence; the early Davis school samplers present essentially the same excellent composition as Balch school samplers from the late 1780s. A fine house, centered within the pair of arch-top pillars, is flanked by a stylishly dressed couple, with many other figures appearing below. The composition is tight and the needlework is beautifully executed. Details include many little sheep, dogs and birds, and, occasionally, a fully worked panel at the bottom with the inscriptions of the makers’ birthdates. (continued on the next page)

Patience Baker, Martha Pease Davis School, Warren, Rhode Island, 1792 (cont.)

Dated October 23, 1792 and made by Patience Baker, this outstanding sampler is a new discovery and an important addition to this Davis school group. Betty Ring, in Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee: Needlework in the Education of Rhode Island Women, 1730-1830 (The Rhode Island Historical Society,1983), publishes much about these Warren samplers; indeed Mrs. Ring owned the Davis school sampler made in 1803 by Nancy Baker, Patience’s niece. Born on October 5, 1782, Patience was the fourth of six children of Jesse Baker, Sr. and his wife Lois (Cole) Baker of Warren. Her oldest brother, Jesse, Jr., was the father of Nancy Baker. As is often the case, multiple generations of families sent their daughters to the same schools and, no doubt, enjoyed the similar samplers made thusly. Patience remained single and lived in Warren, with her sister Lois. She died in 1872. Many published sources contain information regarding the family of Patience Baker and a substantial file of research accompanies the sampler. It remained in the Baker family and was later owned by Miss Virginia Baker (1859-1927), of Warren, a well-known historian and author.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in its original black painted frame, retaining its original backboard with the note that it was lent by Miss Virginia Baker of Warren.

Sampler size: 13¾” by 11¾”

Framed size: 15 ¼” x 12 ¾”

Price: $46,000.

3

4

Agnes McMullan Plunket, Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia, 1829 Virginia samplers have long been the subject of research by curators and scholars; Kimberly Smith Ivey’s fine book, In the Neatest Manner: The Making of the Virginia Sampler Tradition (Colonial Williamsburg, 1997), accompanied an exhibition of the same name and remains an invaluable resource.

We are pleased to offer this recent discovery, a large and important, fully-developed sampler made by Agnes McMullan Plunket of Rockbridge County, in the center of the Virginia, in 1829. She signed her sampler with an abbreviation of her middle name, obviously her mother’s maiden name. Agnes was only 10 year old when she worked this outstanding sampler and while we don’t know the name of the school she attended, we can be certain that her instructress was a talented needleworker and a fine teacher. Many alphabets fill the top half of the sampler (note how Agnes fitted in the final four letters of her scripted, upper-case alphabet) and a moralistic poem is centered within a register filled with wonderful sampler motifs such as tall baskets of fruit, many birds, pine trees and geometric elements. Another pair of fruit baskets and birds anchors the lower corners outside of the splendid border.

Agnes was the daughter of James and Margaret (McMullan) Plunket (the name was also frequently spelled Plunkett) of Lexington; the Virginia Historic Marriage Register of Rockbridge County publishes their marriage of July 4, 1815. James was the son of Thomas and Mary Plunket, natives of Dublin, Ireland and London, England respectively. They each emigrated prior to the Revolutionary War and Thomas served for five years as a soldier and patriot. Thomas and Mary settled in Lexington, northwest of Lynchburg, and much of the family remained there for generations. Plunkett Street still exists in Lexington, parallel to South Main Street. James was a boot and shoemaker and they had twelve children. Agnes remained single and resided with siblings in Lexington, including her brother, Thomas Plunket, Postmaster of Lexington, as recorded in the census records throughout the 19th century. She died in 1896 in Lexington.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled bird’s-eye maple frame.

Sampler size: 20¾” x 16½”

Frame size: 25” x 20¾”

Price: $18,000.

Jane McCulloch, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1772

Writing in Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, vol. II, Philadelphia’s Opulent Embroideries, in a section entitled “White-Work Samplers,” Betty Ring states that the “most unique samplers produced in America are the Dresden-work samplers made in Philadelphia during the second half of the eighteenth century, since their floral patterns appear to have neither foreign nor American counterparts.” Mrs. Ring goes on to elucidate the history of whitework, dating back to the early seventeenth century. The “White-Work Samplers of Philadelphia include examples made from 1751 until 1795; the most sophisticated of these are highly successful compositions of a center basket of flowers with graceful blossoms on leafy stems, and circles of intricate patterns with a tablet of inscription below. Jane McCulloch, a fourteen-year-old from a prominent family of Philadelphia, worked an extraordinary white-work sampler of this precise type in 1772, and we are privileged to present it now. It closely resembles the sampler made in 1771 by Jane Humphreys and owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, published in The Fine Art of Textiles: The Collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by Dilys E. Blum (Philadelphia, 1997) as figure 153.

Our samplermaker, Jane, was the daughter of Hugh and Christina McCulloch of Philadelphia, born circa 1758. Mr. McCulloch was a successful merchant who was active and influential in the life of colonial Philadelphia, and an elder in the now-historic Second Presbyterian Church. He was part of a group of merchants who signed a petition in 1765, protesting the Stamp Act and banding together in their decision to refuse to ship their goods to Great Britain until the act was repealed. Portraits of Hugh and Christiana McCulloch and their son, James McCulloch, were painted circa 1773 by Matthew Pratt and are in the collections of Winterthur Museum, Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design and Princeton University Art Museum, respectively. (continued on the next page)

5

6

Jane McCulloch, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1772 (cont.)

In November of 1787, Jane married Dr. Solomon Birckhead, who was born in Maryland and who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree from the medical school in 1783. The McCulloch family had ties to Baltimore, where Jane’s brother Hugh, Jr., had settled. Dr. Birckhead was a prominent doctor and member of Baltimore’s City Council. Jane and Solomon resided in Baltimore and in 1789 bought a large tract of land with a manor house, called Mount Royal, as a summer estate (this neighborhood is now known as Reservoir Hill). Jane and Solomon had seven children, including their daughter Christina who married Dr. Thomas Bond; the Mount Royal estate was bequeathed to them and then to their son, Hugh Bond. Mr. Bond was very philanthropic and supported emancipation and education of blacks; he donated half of the family land to the city of Baltimore. Jane died in 1829 and Solomon in 1836; they are buried at Old Saint Paul’s Cemetery in Baltimore.

The sampler was worked in silk on very fine linen and it is in excellent condition. It has been conserved and is in a period frame.

Sampler size: 12” x 14” Frame size: 14¼” x 16¼” Price: $48,000.

Dutch Motif Sampler, Zeeland, Holland, 1778 Dutch samplers are highly regarded for their skillfully executed compositions of individual imagery, as well as for the motifs themselves. This particular sampler is likely from the province of Zeeland, located along the coast in the southwestern region of the country. Distinctive regional characteristics include the central building with the stepped roofline and fence, the recumbent stag and the rampant lion surrounded within a fence. This lion was a national symbol of independence from the Spanish, and many coastal cities, such as Zeeland were walled in defense against Spanish armies. See p. 252 of Over Merklappen Gesproken… (M.G.A. Schipper-van Lottum 1996) for similar examples.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a 19th century gold frame.

Sampler size: 18¾” x 14” Frame size: 20¾” x 16” Price: $4000.

7

Jane M. Huey, Mary Tidball School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1840 The 2007 exhibition, Made in Pennsylvania: A Folk Art Tradition at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, documented well the samplers made at the school of Mary Tidball, between 1834 and 1854. Writing in the book of the same title, Harley N. Trice, informs us that, due to the quality and quantity of surviving works, the Mary Tidball School is the best-known western Pennsylvania needlework school. Samplers made at this school, only 14 of which are known, are large, highly-stylized, and sometimes brightly colored; some contain the names of the student’s parents and / or instructor, Mary Tidball. Betty Ring, in Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Embroideries 1650-1850 vol. II, characterizes the samplers made at the Tidball School as including, big, bold flowers and exotic trees, stating that this striking group of large samplers was worked in Washington County during the final years of the schoolgirl needlework era.

Early Mary Tidball School samplers display a pale blue and green palette in a vertical composition.

Beginning circa 1840 and continuing through 1854, the samplers were transformed, by Mary Tidball no doubt, and from 1840 forward were worked in a strong and clear color palette of bright reds, olive greens and pale blue. Dynamic, folky pictorial images including many huge birds, borders with enormous flowers and large veined leaves, hummingbirds, and, only very occasionally, large houses, became the focus. These exuberant pictorial elements, worked in merino wool, contrast nicely to the neat, small scale lettering of the inscriptions and verse, which were worked in silk. Tidball School samplers are widely considered to be the single most sought-after group of folky Pennsylvania samplers. Jane M. Huey’s sampler, worked in 1840, is a new discovery, unknown to Mr. Trice and Mrs. Ring; we are very pleased to be able to offer this extraordinary Tidball School sampler. (continued on the next page)

8

Jane M. Huey, Mary Tidball School, Pittsburgh, PA, 1840 (cont.)

The school was located next to the Presbyterian Church at Bethel Park, located in Peters Township, in the southern suburbs of Pittsburgh. Jane M. Huey informs us in her inscription that she was the daughter of William and Catharine Elizabeth Huey. Research has confirmed that she was born circa 1826 and lived in Peters Township throughout her life. She remained single and was active in the missionary society of Bethel Church. She resided with her uncle, James Huey as evidenced in census records. When Jane died in 1903, an obituary was published in The Presbyterian Banner, October 8, 1903 issue; Miss Huey was described as having led a life worthy of imitation, loyal to the work of her church and faithful to its missionary causes. A copy of this obituary accompanies the file of information that remains with the sampler.

Worked in wool and silk on linen, the sampler is in very good condition with some areas of weakness to the linen, now stabilized. It has been conservation mounted and is now in a maple and mahogany frame.

Sampler size: 17½” x 24¼”

Frame size: 22¼” x 29”

Price upon request.

Elizabeth Bunker, Nantucket, Massachusetts, circa 1805 “The Friends’ schools in Nantucket appear to have produced a distinctive motif of their own during the late eighteenth century. An unknown schoolmistress favored rows of fat little trees on her sampler patterns, which are now used to identify one group of Nantucket samplers worked between 1797 and about 1808.” Betty Ring, in Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650 – 1850, vol. I (Knopf, 1993), states the above and illustrates three Nantucket samplers, each in the collection of the Nantucket Historical Association, that include these characteristic trees.

While the group of samplers known to have been worked at Friends schools on Nantucket has grown slightly since Mrs. Ring’s research, these finely worked samplers remain quite rare. Elizabeth Bunker’s outstanding little sampler is a recent discovery and fine addition to this group. (continued on the next page)

Elizabeth Bunker, Nantucket, Massachusetts, circa 1805 (cont.)

In that the sampler descended on Nantucket and with some family information, the maker can be specifically identified. Elizabeth Bunker was born on December 4, 1793, the youngest of eight children of Hezekiah and Lydia (Ellenwood) Bunker. She married Reuben Coffin (1787-1855) and both the Bunker and Coffin families belonged to the Nantucket Monthly Meeting. Genealogical information is also published in Robert J. Leach’s Nantucket Quaker Genealogy, volume I. Reuben Coffin was a boat builder and mention of his business seems to have been published in an 1894 publication of the Nantucket Historical Association. Reuben and Elizabeth became the parents of ten children and Elizabeth died in 1864.

This sampler would have worked when Elizabeth was approximately twelve year old (the Nantucket samplers published by Mrs. Ring were made by girls who were eleven, twelve and nine respectively), and we can presume that it dates circa 1805. In addition to the row of fat trees, four potted flowering plants embellish the sampler, two with birds perched on their branches and pecking at berries. The verse extols the, “ambition to excel” and, “the art of living well,” which are distinctly Quaker sentiments. In 1816, in New York City, the well-known Quaker author, grammarian and educator, Lindley Murray, included this four-line verse in a publication of selected prose and poetry; it was likely known and used by Quaker schoolmistresses prior to that.

Another trait shared by many of the Nantucket samplers is that they were worked with extremely fine silk stitching on delicate linen and this is clearly evident on Elizabeth Bunker’s sampler. It remains in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a figured maple frame.

Sampler size: 11½” x 9”

Frame size: 14¾” x 12¼”

Price: $18,000.

Mary Dickinson, England, 1791 This is a delightful little sampler stitched by Mary Dickinson in 1791, which she so notes in Roman numerals. The focus of her work is a child’s Morning Prayer, around which she worked a vine of varying polychrome flowers.

Two ships with flags sail across a wavy green line at the bottom of the sampler. Quite appealing and somewhat unusual, the work is very linear with strong outlines alone forming the flowers and leaves.

Worked in silk on wool, the sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and in a period bird’s eye maple frame.

Sampler size: 8¾” x 8¼” Frame size: 11½” x 11” Price: $1600.

9

10

Sidney Jefferis, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1804 Provenance: Collection of Mary Jaene Edmonds

The finest samplers of Chester County display excellence in their delicate needlework and pleasing composition, similar to those worked in 18th century Philadelphia. This is not surprising, as the population of this prosperous area paralleled the city’s, with Quaker merchants, farmers and craftspeople. Many outstanding samplers were made by the daughters of Chester County families and these have been the subject of study for many decades. Writing in Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650 – 1850 (Knopf, 1993), Betty Ring states, “Perhaps the earliest distinctive Chester County form was begun by a woman whose initials were E.W., and they appear on three similar samplers of 1804. This schoolmistress probably taught in East Bradford Township, where the sampler makers lived … The delicacy of her designs, a balanced format, and almost flawless execution reveal that she was teaching in the best English tradition … and her students were Quaker girls.” Sidney Jefferis’ praiseworthy sampler is one of the three samplers mentioned by Mrs. Ring; another is that by Sidney’s sister, Lydia Jefferis, owned by the Chester County Historical Society and illustrated as figure 436. These samplers each show individual variations but share the two-handled urn, pine trees, planter formed of three linked hearts, queen’s-stitched strawberries, cartouche enclosure, and a variety of verses.

(continued on the next page)

Sidney Jefferis, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1804 (cont.)

Sidney and Lydia, as they each state on their sampler, were the daughters of Emmor and Rachel (Grubb) Jefferis. The family lived in East Bradford Township and belonged to the Kennett Monthly Meeting, where Sidney’s birth, on 6 day of the 4 month, 1790 was recorded. In 1809, Sidney married a farmer, John R. Way and they remained in the area, members of the New Garden Meeting. They became the parents of three children and Sidney died in 1882. For many years her sampler was in the collection of Mary Jaene Edmonds, and published in her book, Samplers & Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850 (Rizzoli, 1991), as figure 41.

The sampler was worked in silk on fine linen gauze and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in its excellent original inlaid frame.

Sampler size: 16” x 13”

Frame size: 17½” x 14½”

Price: $17,500.

Polly Blydenburgh, Durham, New Hampshire, 1794 Alphabets, decorative bands and a fine verse extolling the value of wisdom and knowledge appear on this very good sampler made by Polly Blydenburgh in 1794, at age 10.

Particularly endearing is the plump bird worked into the bottom border at center. The samplermaker was born on March 14, 1784 to Rev. John and Margaret (Smith) Blydenburgh and information about the family is published in History of the Town of Durham, New Hampshire with Genealogical Notes, by Stackpole and Meserve (1913).

Polly’s parents were married there in 1781 and she was the oldest of their five children. In 1804, she married Stephen Boardman and they resided in the nearby town of Newmarket, where they had four children.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame with line inlay.

Sampler size: 13” x 11¾”

Frame size: 16¼” x 15”

Price: $3600.

11

12

Lydia B. Smith, Providence, Rhode Island, 1819 Ten-year-old Lydia B. Smith, a young Quaker girl living in Providence, Rhode Island worked this attractive sampler, which exhibits strong Quaker characteristics and a highly appealing naiveté. The tall yellow house with its dependency building, the large patterned heart encompassing the date and the Quaker half medallions all contribute to the endearing charm of Lydia’s sampler. The alphabets are nicely worked, with some of the “mistakes” that we often find made by a young samplermaker; Lydia worked an upper case letter F upsidedown.

Lydia was the daughter of Arca and Sarah (Boyce) Smith, members of the Providence Monthly Meeting, where they married in 1784. Late in their marriage, on the 22 day of the 7 month of 1809, a daughter was born, Lydia Boyce Smith, again as recorded in the Meeting Minutes. She was named for her maternal grandmother, Lydia Boyce (1764-1824). By 1827 Lydia was married to Charles Metcalf, also a member of the Providence Meeting, and the manufacturer of cotton machinery.

They became the parents of six children. Information about the Smith and Metcalf families is published in Genealogies of Rhode Island Families (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1983) and History of Providence County Rhode Island, vol. II (W.W. Preston & Co., 1891). Lydia died is 1886 and is buried at the Friends Burial Ground.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled figured maple frame.

Sampler size: 13¾” x 13½” Frame size: 17” x 16¾” Price: $6500.

Elizabeth S. Mish, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1813 Green linsey-woolsey was occasionally used as the ground fabric for samplers made in coastal New England, but used only extremely rarely by Pennsylvania samplermakers. Inscribed, “Elizabeth S Mish her work Harrisb / urgh Nov 2 1813 Aged 10 years 11 / Months and 10 days,” this praiseworthy sampler features a poem that was written in 1783 and entitled Occasioned by General Washington's Arrival in Philadelphia, On His Way to His Residence in Virginia. Written by American poet and patriot, Philip Freneau (1752-1832), it reads: “O Washington!—thrice glorious name / What due rewards can man decree / Empires are far below thy aim / And septers have no charms for thee / Virtue alone has thy regard / And she shall be thy great reward.”

Pennsylvania Genealogies: Scotch-Irish and German by William Henry Egle (Harrisburg, 1886) indicates that Elizabeth was born on November 23, 1802. The published family information focuses on her husband’s family so the names of her parents aren’t provided; however, it seems likely that her father was Jacob Mish, who was recorded as living in Harrisburg in the census records of 1800 and 1820. In 1822, Elizabeth married George Williams Boyd (1796-1863) in Harrisburg. Egle, as above, states that Boyd, “was a chair-maker, and carried on the business many years at Harrisburg.

Was also a member of the council of that borough, and a man of influence in the community.”

Indeed, Nancy Goyne Evans, in American Windsor Chairs (New York, 1996), lists George W. Boyd as a chair-maker in Harrisburg, active between 1822 and 1847. Elizabeth and George had seven children and Elizabeth died in 1849; she is buried at the Harrisburg Cemetery.

The sampler was worked in silk on linsey-woolsey and is in very good condition with some secured areas of weakness to the ground fabric. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled maple frame with an outer bead.

Sampler size: 12” x 13”

Frame size: 15¼” x 16¼”

Price: $5500.

13

14

Florentina Tabiel Andrade, Spain, 1839 In 1998, the Hispanic Society of America in New York held an exhibition entitled “Learning the Art of Embroidery: Nineteenth Century Spanish Samplers,” and the many examples exhibited were both aesthetically impressive and interesting. From the earliest sampler shown, worked in 1834, to the later examples, the vivid palettes and highly decorative designs and borders typified the Spanish samplermaking tradition. We are pleased to be able to offer this handsome Spanish sampler with its strong central square and many concentric borders. The block letter alphabet is without the letters K and W, as would be typical of the Spanish alphabet; interestingly the scripted and gothic versions include the letter K and these may have been imported fonts.

The inscription translates to read, “Made at the age of 9 by Florentina Tabiel of Andrade and Comesana” reflecting the Spanish tradition of using the surnames of both parents; and below, “Year of 1839” completes the information that Florentina provided. Each corner of the central square is decorated with fine, beautifullyworked pairs of yellow birds and branches of flowers. Worked in silk on tightly woven linen, the sampler is in excellent condition with one minor area of loss to the linen. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded mahogany frame.

Sampler size: 16” x 17”

Frame size: 18” x 19”

Price: $3200.

Susannah N. T. Fogg, Braintree, Massachusetts, 1807 Susannah Niles Thayer Fogg was born on June 26, 1800 to Dr. Daniel and Susannah (Thayer) Fogg in Braintree, a small town south of Boston. Her parents married there in 1784 and Susannah was the 7th of their 8 children. During the Revolutionary War, Daniel was the Assistant Surgeon of the Revolutionary Army at Ticonderoga, and he remained a prominent physician throughout his life. In 1829 Susannah married Captain Elisha N. Thayer and they remained in Braintree where they had two daughters.

She died in 1847.

Susannah worked in this charming sampler in 1807 when she was just 7 years old. Included are a variety of alphabets interspersed with narrow decorative bands, a border of stylized leaves and berries surrounds the sampler on four sides and a cartouche at the top encloses the date. The first alphabet is worked in the eyelet stitch and the second alphabet is in what was called the “Round Hand,” the standard font used for documents in the early 19th century. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a late 19th century walnut frame with a gold liner.

Sampler size: 14” x 12¼”

Frame size: 16½” x 14¾”

Price: $2850.

15

Louisa K. Spade, American, 1833 Louisa K. Spade worked this very fine house and lawn scene in 1833, surrounding it on three sides with a particularly beautiful border. Vines grow up the sides of the house, which appears with its second floor windows shuttered, and the tall evergreen trees provide strong visual punctuation to the scene. A central verse was carefully placed, however typical of the type of placement problems worked out by a schoolgirl, Louisa needed to fit the last two letters of the third line at the end of the fourth line. A listing of vowels, worked in a lustrous pale blue silk and placed between two large stars, surmounts the poem. Many interesting stitches were used by this samplermaker, with the very challenging queen’s-stitch showcased throughout; an unusually oversized version of this appears in a line between the vowels and the verse and is incorporated into the many flowers of the border. There is a lovely delicacy as well as a strength to this sampler and its composition.

The sampler was most likely made in southeastern Pennsylvania and it shares regional characteristics with others from this area. The surname, Spade, appears with variant spelling throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Worked in silk on linen, this sampler is in excellent condition, and has been conservation mounted into a mahogany frame.

Sampler size: 17” x 18” Frame size: 20½” x 21½” Price: $9500.

Mary Huston, Bellefonte, Centre County, Pennsylvania, circa 1818 Provenance: Collection of Betty Ring

From the collection of renowned needlework scholar and collector, Betty Ring, this large and handsome family register sampler was made by Mary Huston, a young lady from a distinguished family of central Pennsylvania. In American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring (Dutton, 1987), Mrs. Ring describes this Huston sampler (fig. 77) as follows, “The lettering and floral sprays of this unfinished sampler reflect Quaker instruction. It is attributed to Mary Huston (1806-1826), the daughter of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Charles Huston (1771-1849) and Mary Winters (c.1776-1845) of Bellefonte, Centre County. Mary, a Presbyterian, was probably taught by Miss Sarah Tucker, a Quakeress, and the best-known instructress in Bellefonte from 1807 until about 1825. (continued on the next page)

16

Mary Huston, Bellefonte, Centre County, PA, circa 1818 (cont.)

About 1821, Lucy Winters Alexander, Mary’s first cousin, worked a sampler with exactly the same house, and her alphabet, in the bold Quaker style, also lacks the letter V. Lucy’s sampler is now at the Centre County Library and Historical Museum, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.”

From the collection of renowned needlework scholar and collector, Betty Ring, this large and handsome family register sampler was made by Mary Huston, a young lady from a distinguished family of central Pennsylvania. In American Needlework Treasures: Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection of Betty Ring (Dutton, 1987), Mrs. Ring describes this Huston sampler (fig. 77) as follows, “The lettering and floral sprays of this unfinished sampler reflect Quaker instruction. It is attributed to Mary Huston (18061826), the daughter of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Charles Huston (1771-1849) and Mary Winters (c.17761845) of Bellefonte, Centre County.

Mary, a Presbyterian, was probably taught by Miss Sarah Tucker, a Quakeress, and the best-known instructress in Bellefonte from 1807 until about 1825. About 1821, Lucy Winters Alexander, Mary’s first cousin, worked a sampler with exactly the same house, and her alphabet, in the bold Quaker style, also lacks the letter V. Lucy’s sampler is now at the Centre County Library and Historical Museum, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.”

From the Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania (J.H. Beers & Co., 1898), we learn a great deal further about Mary’s father, Charles Huston. Greatly influenced by his boyhood experiences during the Revolutionary War, and time spent in 1794, following Gen. George Washington as he campaigned against the Whiskey Rebellion, Huston went to contribute to the nation as a lawyer, teacher and jurist. As noted by Betty Ring, he served on the Bench of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. His later years were devoted to the compilation and publication of his work, “An Essay on the History and Nature of Original Titles to Land in the Province and State of Pennsylvania,” (Philadelphia, 1849). The home that the Huston family lived in at 133 North Allegheny Street is today part of a walking tour of the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association.

Mary was approximately twelve years old when she worked this and we can be certain from her skill level that she was an advanced student. The brick red house, with its fencing and arcaded gates, and the trellised garden structure are beautifully accomplished, along with the birds, animals, various motifs and all of the lettering. This sampler had been in Betty Ring’s collection since 1964 and was singled out as one of her favorite Pennsylvania samplers.

It was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany and maple frame.

Sampler size: 21” x 18”

Frame size: 25” x 22”

Price: $11,500.

17

Margaret Goodsir, Scotland, 1760 This handsome band sampler evidences the classic characteristics of the Scottish samplermaking tradition.

Notable are the beautifully formed upper case alphabets with curlicues, the color palette predominated by reds and greens, the open-tail peacock and the little hill with three rabbits and geometric trees. Scottish samplermakers often include a listing of family initials on their work and Margaret recorded “DM, II, EG, IG, TG, IG, DG, IG.” Interestingly a row of other initials, six lines from the top and perhaps those of classmates, appear as ligatures (letters that are joined together). Another row, beneath the largest upper case alphabet, features the crowns and coronets assigned to King, Viscount, Lord, Earl, and so on.

While we have not been able to identify this samplermaker as of yet, the majority of the Goodsir families lived in Fife, where three generations of Goodsirs were renowned surgeons and medical professors.

Worked in wool on linen, the sampler is excellent condition with some very minor loss. It has been conservation mounted and is in a black molded and painted frame.

Sampler size: 17” x 10¼”

Frame size: 19” x 12¼”

Price: $3800.

18

Sarah E. Hanna, Harford County, Maryland, 1842 The book, A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery 1738-1860 by Gloria Seaman Allen (Maryland Historical Society 2007), illustrates this interesting and beautifully stitched sampler by Sarah E. Hanna as figure 7-16. Dr. Allen states, “Sarah Elizabeth Hanna (ca. 1833-1896) neatly stitched a sampler that incorporates two unusual phrases: ‘needle first used 1545’ and ‘pin first used 1545.’ These statements are probably inaccurate, but Sarah’s teacher may have confused her information for pins with the ‘Act for the True Making of Pynnes,’ passed in England in 1543. Sarah was one of nine children of Jane McGaw (born 1793) and Colonel William Hanna (1789-1878) of Harford County. On May 31, 1853, she married William Finney Bayless (1814-1873), a farmer and member of the Maryland State Legislature and a state senator during the 1860s. They were the parents of six children.”

The family lived in the small town of Deer Creek, near Churchville, in northeastern Maryland.

History of Baltimore Its History and Its People (Lewis Historical Publishing Co, 1912) provides further information about the Hanna and Bayless families. William Hanna was a colonel in War of 1812 and his father, Alexander Hanna, was a soldier in the Maryland Militia, serving the Revolutionary War. Sarah’s husband, William Finney Bayless, “was a progressive and successful farmer. He was numbered among the most influential citizens of the county … possessed sterling qualities of the head and heart.”

The eight-line verse that Sarah stitched is one not commonly found on samplers and it holds great appeal as it speaks directly to the maker’s wish that her needlework will be well-regarded by those viewing her sampler. Tightly stitched motifs decorate the space on either side and a similarly stitched border surrounds the sampler on fours sides. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled mahogany frame with a maple bead.

Sampler size: 15¼” x 15¾”

Frame size: 19” x 19½”

Price: $8400.

Sarah D. White, Newton, Massachusetts, 1807 A group of samplers worked in Concord, Lexington, Waltham, Newton, and other small towns west and north of Boston, has been characterized by Betty Ring, in Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, vol. I (Knopf, 1993), as, “attractive samplers, usually in vertical form, with wide, deeply arcaded borders at the top and sides, and a sawtooth border which encloses a center section that often includes one alphabet and a verse above a variety of pictorial elements. A house is most common, but there may be figures, trees, flowerpots, or various combinations of motifs.

Nevertheless, they can be easily recognized by their typical borders and similar workmanship.”

Samplers belonging to this group were made from the 1790s through approximately 1810.

Generally large and displaying extremely fine needlework; these samplers are highly regarded by curators and collectors alike. Sarah D. White, of Newton, worked this particularly handsome sampler, which is a classic example of this group.

Sarah’s house and lawn scene, with its dependency building, fencing shown in perspective and fully stitched sky, is more developed than most, and the low baskets of fruit worked into the border, top and center, and lower corners, are also unusual. Genealogical research has revealed much about the maker, and in the overall, this sampler holds much appeal.

A History of the Early Settlement of Newton, County of Middlesex, Massachusetts from 1639 to 1800

by Francis Jackson (Boston, 1854), documents Sarah Davis White as the eldest child of Ebenezer White and Mindwell (Fuller) White. Ebenezer White (1766- 1853) served as deacon of the First Church of Newton, and married Mindwell on May 8, 1793. Sarah was born on February 7, 1794, and was indeed, as she stitched onto her sampler, “in the fourteenth year of her age” in 1807. In 1816, Sarah married Thaddeus Hyde, also of Newton; they became the parents of five children. Later in life, they removed to Roxbury, which was just south of Boston and later incorporated into the same. Sarah died in 1861, then a widow, as Thaddeus had died in 1857.

The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is excellent condition; stitches forming the word “fourteenth” are original and complete, although some are worked in a pale thread. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame with a gold leaf molded edge.

Sampler size: 21½” x 17½”

Frame size: 25½” x 21½”

Price: $18,500.

19

20

Elizabeth Covil Spurling, Greenwich, England, 1826 English samplermakers working in the first decades of the 19th century often presented highly structured and formulaic compositions. We greatly prefer those rare examples of a free-form scene expressing the individuality and whimsy of a young stitcher and were delighted to have been able to acquire this excellent example, worked in 1826 by Elizabeth Covil Spurling. The highly detailed large brick house dominates the scene, with its chimneys smoking and a handsome garden settee next to an enormous tulip. The house dog looks on as five large deer frolic beneath lush, leafy trees. Topped by a flock of birds and a shimmering sky, Elizabeth’s depiction holds enormous appeal.

Elizabeth also included two carefully worked poems and one rendition of the alphabet, along with flowers baskets, a bowl of fruit and a pair of butterflies. Her lettering, various motifs and the entire scene attest to a high level of skill in the needle arts.

The Spurling family lived in Woolwich, a Kentish town near Greenwich, which became part of London in 1889.

Elizabeth’s parents, John Sampson Spurling and Elizabeth Covil married in 1813 and she was their first born, baptized on May 1, 1814 at St Mary Magdalene. John Spurling owned and operated the Steam Packet Tavern in Bell Water Gate, Woolwich and it’s likely that Elizabeth attended a school in the area. In 1841, she married Charles Henry Jenkins, also a tavern-keeper, owner of the White Hart Pub in Woolwich.

The sampler was worked in silk on wool and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a bird’s eye maple frame.

Sampler size: 16” x 12¼”

Frame size: 18¾” x 15”

Price: $6200.

Yvette Reverdito, Institution des Dames Africaines, Oran, Algeria, 1933 This charming little marking sampler, with carefully stitched letters, numbers and tiny pictorial motifs, is highly reminiscent of samplers made a hundred years earlier. Clearly, we do not generally offer samplers made at such a late date; however, this work offers an unusual origin and strong visual appeal.

It is remarkable that young French girls living in Africa were being taught fine needlework skills and were gaining the same education as girls had for centuries in Europe.

Yvette Reverdito worked this little sampler in 1933 at the Institution des Dames Africaines in Oran, Algeria.

Algeria, since 1831 was ruled by the French and during this time Oran was the capital, and up until World War II. As the name of school makes obvious, it was an all-girls school, though not, it seems, a missionary school.

Stitched in linen on linen, the sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a black painted, molded frame.

Sampler size: 7” x 8”

Frame size: 9” x 10”

Price: $900.

21

Elizabeth Benson, England, 1756 Red on white samplers are quite striking, offering a strong, graphic quality; juxtaposed by the early date of 1756, this sampler by Elizabeth Benson is most appealing. Many alphabets in varying sizes and decorative bands complete the top register followed by a quotation from Ecclesiastes 12:1, a most commonly used cautionary verse from the Bible. Notice that Elizabeth charmingly miscalculated the space required for letters and fit one above the word at the end of the third line.

Always interesting to see is the row of crowns, each designated by the rightful initial: K for king, Q for queen, P for prince, D for duke, V for viscount and L for lord.

Numerical progressions and another alphabet stitched in the four-sided stitch were practiced along with Elizabeth’s inscription, completing her sampler.

The needlework is tight and fine throughout the sampler.

Worked in silk on wool, Miss Benson’s sampler remains in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a gold frame.

Sampler size: 12½” x 8”

Frame size: 14½” x 10”

Price: $2200.

Elizabeth Porter, England, 1816 This handsome polychrome sampler was worked by Elizabeth Porter in 1816, and displays many attractive pictorial elements and a fine house and lawn scene. A decorative basket dominates the center and is flanked by large, exotic birds perched on berry trees. Between the Biblical verse worked at the top Elizabeth included a vignette of a fine woman surrounded by large bunches of grapes and grapevines, an image not commonly found on samplers.

The sampler is grounded by a very handsome pink, double-chimney, brick house and precisely stitched pine trees, with fencing stretching away from the house to two identical outbuildings. The house has good detail, such as the mullioned windows and steps leading to a “wooden” door with black doorknocker.

Elizabeth framed her sampler with a neatly stitched flowering vine border.

Worked in silk on wool the sampler remains in very good condition with some minor weakness to the verse. It has been conservation mounted into its fine original gold frame.

Sampler size: 12½” square

Frame size: 15¼” square

Price: $4700.

22

Mary Ann Hoch, Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1832 “Nur Die Tugend ist Der Weisen Zicht,” which roughly translates to “Only the Quality of Wisdom Counts,” is the aphorism inscribed on this rare Pennsylvania German sampler. The maker is Mary Ann Hoch of Hanover Township, Lehigh County, which lies northeast of Allentown, who was born in 1819, the daughter of Henry Hoch (1786-1857) and Susan Frantz Hoch (1783-1853).

This is one of very few known American samplers that feature both the German and American traditions, motifs and, most importantly, language. The composition resembles others made within the Pennsylvania German community, with motifs arranged in a floating or random fashion. Some of those elements stitched by Mary Ann have their origins in German samplers from the 17th and 18th centuries: the fruited tree, the lady with open-front gown and the font used for the inscription and one upper-case alphabet. Of course, designs and motifs were shared, crossing cultures and oceans, as so many samplers document.

American, specifically Quaker, influences appear on the sampler as well, in the uppermost alphabet and the branch of flower and bud at the bottom center. Mary Ann’s sampler is documented by Tandy and Charles Hersh in their book, Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans (Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, 1991), the definitive book on the subject.

The Hoch family came to America in 1748 when Jacob Hoch, Mary Ann’s grandfather, arrived, having sailed from Rotterdam. Mary Ann married Elias Lapp (1816-1886), a farmer who also engaged in lime burning and dealing. They had three children and she died in 1889, buried in Lehigh County. The sampler was worked in linen on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in beveled cherry frame with a black bead.

Sampler size: 16¾” x 15¾”

Frame size: 19 ¾” x 18 ¾”

Price: $6300.

Elizabeth Cleveland, Miss Maria Barton School, Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, 1840 Samplers memorializing George Washington remained popular with American schoolteachers and their students for many years beyond his death in 1799. An outstanding small group of samplers, now totaling four, is known to have been worked in Elizabeth Town, northern New Jersey, under the instruction of Miss Maria Barton, who was teaching from 1832 until at least 1840. The samplermakers included Miss Barton’s name and that of the town in their inscriptions and each sampler depicts either Washington’s Urn or a View of Mount Vernon. The teacher has been identified as Miss Maria M. Barton, who was born circa 1805 to Stephen and Phebe Barton of Elizabeth Town. She remained single and lived there throughout her life. She died in 1861 and is buried at the Burying Grounds of the First Presbyterian Church and St. Johns Church.

Each of the four samplers feature either the architecture or the urn set on a fine striated lawn with graphically-depicted trees, surrounded by strong floral borders and an outer Greek key design. One of these samplers, that made by Harriett Dector in 1838, is published in Home Sweet Home: The House in American Folk Art (Rizzoli, 2001) by Deborah Harding and Laura Fisher. These excellent samplers remain Miss Barton’s legacy.

The samplermaker, Elizabeth Cleveland, was born on August 16, 1829, the eldest of nine children of shoe and boot merchant, Ezra Cleveland and his wife, Priscilla Warner Blackwell Cleveland, who married in Elizabeth Town in 1828. Elizabeth married Greenleaf Shotwell in 1846 and they had a son, William, born in 1848. Both Greenleaf and Elizabeth died within a few years of his birth.

Worked in wool and silk on linen, the sampler is in very good condition and it has been conservation mounted into a beveled cherry frame with a black bead.

Sampler size: 15½” x 23¾”

Frame size: 18¼” x 26½”

Price: $12,500.

23

24

Elizabeth Willits, Maiden Creek Quaker School, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1804 There still stands today a small stone Quaker Meetinghouse near Leesport, Pennsylvania, which was built in 1759 by a group of settlers who established farms along the fertile banks of Maiden Creek.

The Quaker tradition of providing a sound education for their community must have lead to the establishment of a small school for this rural contingent and records at the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College confirm that from 1795 forth “a School had been in progress … making earnest efforts to meet the standards set by the General Meeting.” This school opened and closed repeatedly and it is likely that its existence depended on the availability of a teacher. It is also likely that graduates of the highly regarded Westtown School, a large Quaker school founded in 1799 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, would have provided a likely source of teachers. This sampler, worked at the Maiden Creek School in 1804 resembles the wonderfully refined samplers worked at Westtown and features the same restrained leaf and vine border with a bellflower center drop, and the precise lettering which forms the inscription and verse. Elizabeth’s sampler is the first known example from Maiden Creek and is a strong indication that the school was indeed tiny and short-lived.

Elizabeth Willits was born in the village of Maiden Creek on March 21, 1791, the daughter of Jesse and Phebe (Hutton) Willits. Interestingly, her older brother John attended Westtown School beginning in 1805. On May 17, 1817, Elizabeth married Jacob Lightfoot also of Maiden Creek and a photocopy of their marriage certificate is included in the file of genealogical research that accompanies this sampler. The Willits and Lightfoot families were amongst the early Quaker group that settled this area in the 1730's.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition with one minor area of loss, and is conservation mounted into a black molded and painted frame.

Sampler size: 13½" x 12¾"

Frame size: 15¾” x 15”

Price: $9400.

Sidney Caroline Hendricks, Lititz Moravian Girls’ School, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1823 Provenance: Collection of Betty Ring The Lititz Moravian Girls’ School of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania opened its doors in 1748, and gained a wide reputation for offering its students a strong academic education, as well as skills in the needle arts. In 1794, the school decided to open enrollment to non-Moravians, and to accept boarders, allowing it to become one of the most important American schools for girls, and attracting students from many different areas. High style silk embroidered pictures were a specialty of the school and outstanding pieces were produced between 1815 and the 1830s.

Sidney Caroline Hendricks, a young lady from Baltimore, entered the Lititz School in 1822 and worked this splendid silk embroidery there, indicating that she finished it on May 30th, 1823, in an inscription on the reverse.

The subject depicted is “A Favorite Lamb.” Many of the classic characteristics that can be found on embroideries from this school are included on this piece. It is surrounded by the wide chenille oval border with spangle appliqués, which is one of these signature treatments from this school. This embroidery was in the private collection of the renowned scholar and collector, Betty Ring, and was illustrated in the definitive book about this school, The Ornamental Branches: Needlework and Arts from the Lititz Moravian Girls’ School 1800 – 1850, written by Patricia T. Herr (The Heritage Center of Lancaster County, Inc. 1996), as figure 27. Dr. Herr states that it was likely Peter Grosh who provided the pattern and painted the watercolor. Peter Grosh, a Moravian living in Mechanicsville, was a self-taught painter who worked with the Lititz School from 1819 through 1829.

This embroidery was worked in silk, chenille and metallic, coiled spangles and paint and ink on twillweave silk. It is in excellent condition and remains in its fine original gold leaf frame with a replaced eglomisé mat.

Size of the embroidery: 15½” x 13”

Frame size: 19” x 18½”

Price: $28,000.

25

26

Elethea Soule, Waterville, Maine, 1811 Elethea Soule was born on July 4, 1800 and finished this appealing and folky sampler precisely on her 11th birthday, July 4, 1811, noting her age accordingly. It’s an unusual sampler with a two-handled striped pot of free-form flowers set in an airy tableau with unique corner elements.

Alphabets, geometric motifs and stylized borders complete the sampler.

The Soule family in Maine began with Jonathan Soule (1747-1832) who resided initially in Duxbury, Massachusetts, removing to Kennebec County, Maine after serving in the Revolutionary War. His wife was Honor Southworth (17571852). They lived in Waterville and became the parents of nine children, Elethea was their youngest. She remained single and lived in Waterville throughout her life. The Soule family contributed many active citizens to the area; later in life Elethea lived next door to her sister-in-law, the widow of her brother Pelatiah, who had fathered twenty-one children.

When she died in 1887, Elethea was buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery of Waterville, along with seventy-nine members of the Soule family.

The sampler was worked in silk on tightly woven linen and it remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a fine 19th century bird’s eye maple frame.

Sampler size: 18” x 12½”

Frame size: 21” x 15½”

Price: $4300.

Mary Key, Kilrenny, Fife, Scotland, 1837 A delightful sampler featuring a fine, large stone manor house with many trees, birds, animals and pots of flowers and fruit, this was made by nine-year-old Mary Key in 1837.

Of additional interest is the splendid star and sunburst motif above the house, an unusual design that has not been found on other samplers. Although young, Mary was clearly adept as a stitcher and must have attended a very good school. The Key family (the surname is spelled “Key” and “Keay” interchangeably) was from the seaside village of Kilrenny in Fife, where the vernacular architecture is noted for its tile roofs, a feature that Mary included on the depiction of her house.

Born on December 15, 1827, Mary was one of the ten children born to Alexander and Helen Key, whose initials flank the rectangle that contains her inscription. The initials of her siblings, including Alexander, Helen, George, Elizabeth, Andrew, and Robert were stitched onto the sampler, as well. The 1841 census tells us that Mary’s father was a fisherman and further research indicates that, in 1851, she married Alexander Wood Fowler. They had at least two children and Mary died at age 74.

The sampler was worked in silk on wool and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into its fine original frame and gold liner.

Sampler size: 13¼” x 11¾”

Frame size: 18½” x 17”

Price: $2800.

Rebecca Ide, Attleborough, Massachusetts, circa 1799 Born on November 23, 1790, Rebecca Ide was the daughter of Ichabod and Eunice (Cushman) Ide of Attleborough, a small town in southern Massachusetts, just at the Rhode Island border. Ichabod (17591830) was a lieutenant who served in the Revolutionary War as part of Capt. Alexander Foster’s Company in the summer of 1778. They married in 1785. Eunice (1762-1834) was a descendant of Robert Cushman (1578-1625) who was born in England and sailed on the ship Fortune in 1621, serving as the Chief Agent and a leader of the Plymouth Colony until his death in 1625. He is credited with much of the success of Plymouth, having traveled back to England to ensure support.

Rebecca worked this delightful sampler in 1798 or 1799, as she states it was, “Made in the Ninth year of her Age.” The verse that she stitched is a classic one from the period, presenting her needlework which will survive her. The scene along the bottom centers on a house with two couples comprised of four top-hatted little people, flanked by four pine trees. Using the same teal blue that she employed for the house and trees, Rebecca stitched her initials prominently at the end of the large alphabet.

Aesthetically this sampler has an appealing and folky nature.

Rebecca died at age 20 in 1810 and is buried along with family members at the Newell Burying Ground in Attleborough. 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 a black bead.

Sampler size: 15¾” x 13¾”

Frame size: 18½” x 16½”

Price: $6400.

27

28

Achsah Ann Waller, Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, circa 1840 Few samplers were made in the regions west of Ohio because, understandably, a critical mass of population did not exist at the time samplers were still part of the American schoolgirl tradition. We seek out and enjoy finding these rare examples, such as this exemplary piece made by Achsah Ann Waller.

Born in Mason County, Kentucky in 1828, Achsah was the daughter of John Waller (born in Virginia circa 1800) and his wife, Elizabeth Anderson Waller (born in Kentucky in 1805). Achsah was a family name, that of her maternal grandmother and an aunt.

The Anderson family came from New Jersey and had removed to Kentucky where Elizabeth’s father, George Anderson was a tobacconist. The Waller family was from Virginia.

Achsah’s parents, John and Elizabeth, were married in Mason County, Kentucky on March 18, 1822; in 1829 John died, leaving Elizabeth with Achsah and her four older siblings.

Elizabeth remarried in 1832, to William McNeely, a farmer, and they left Kentucky by 1840, removing to Liberty Township, Clay County, Missouri, just north of Kansas City. Census records document the births of three of their children who were born between 1833 and 1837 in Kentucky and others from 1840 forth in Missouri.

Achsah states on her sampler that she made it when she was 12 years old, and we can surmise that she was in Missouri at the time. A well-developed, handsome house and a log cabin are portrayed on the sampler, along with a large American flag flying above the cabin. Achsah also presented a leggy black dog with a white collar, likely a depiction of the family pet. Her excellent sampler is one of a very few that we have known of that was made this far west during this period.

A good deal further is known about Achsah’s life as an adult. On December 23, 1847, at age 19, she married Peter Chilton Pixley (1824-1872), a descendant of an early New England family. History of Clay County Missouri by W. H. Woodson (Topeka, 1920) informs us that Peter was one of the pioneer settlers of Clay County. He was a soldier in the Mexican War, serving in the Civil War as well. A published family genealogy indicates that he was a Major in the Confederate Army and captured at Vicksburg. Major Pixley survived the imprisonment as well as an attack from Union soldiers on the train while traveling through Centralia, Missouri. Again, from History of Clay County Missouri, Peter was “successful in his affairs, and was one of the prominent and well-to-do men of his time.” In regard to Achsah Ann (Waller) Pixley, it states that she was a native of Kentucky, who came to Missouri with her parents when she was a girl and they settled in Clay County; furthermore, “She is ninety-three years old and still retains her mental and physical vigor to a remarkable degree.” (continued on the next page)

Achsah Ann Waller, Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, circa 1840 (cont.)

Achsah and Peter had ten children between 1848 and 1870, and they continued to live in the area around Liberty. As a widow, Achsah lived in the small town of Fishing River with her son, Benjamin, and his family. She died in 1922 and is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Liberty.

The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition, having been conservation mounted into a figured maple frame with a cherry bead.

Sampler size: 15” x 14¾”

Frame size: 18½” x 18¼”

Price: $13,500.

Mary Hibberd, Westtown Boarding School, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1806

Quaker samplers made at the highly regarded Westtown Boarding School, established in 1799 by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, generally feature the bold, graphic Roman alphabets recommended

by John Woolman in his First Book for Children (Philadelphia, 1768). Female students worked different types of samplers; the first was often a marking, or alphabet sampler, sometimes with a classic stylized vine of leaves with a bell-flower, a hallmark of the school. Mary Hibberd, age 13, entered the school 4 month, 1806 and remained there until 7 month, 1807.

Mary was a daughter of Isaac Hibberd and his wife, Ann Hill, who were married 10 month, 1790 at Darby Meeting House. Isaac died in 1798 and when Mary entered Westtown, William Hill, Ann’s brother, was responsible for the financial account.

Ann Hibberd and her daughters subsequently moved their membership to the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a maple bevel frame.

Sampler size: 12½” x 10¼”

Frame size: 15½” x 13¼”

Price: $5800.

29

30

Eliza B. Hammond, Rock Run Seminary, Harford County, Maryland, 1824 Rock Run Seminary existed for 10 years, 1816 to 1826, and was run by the four Gover sisters who included in their curriculum several types of needlework instruction. Dr. Gloria Seaman Allen in A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery 1738-1860 (Maryland Historical Society 2007) illustrates Eliza Hammond’s splendid sampler as Figure 7-13, page 113. This is the only known sampler worked at this seminary, which took in boarding students.

Specific information about the school and the curriculum is published by Dr. Allen, from an 1816 newspaper advertisement placed by the Gover sisters. Eliza’s sampler indicates a high level of aptitude in the needle arts with fine stitching forming the lengthy verse and flowers, baskets, birds and little hearts that decorate the sampler. Interestingly, Eliza left her threaded needle still in the sampler.

The verse that Eliza stitched is entitled “The Young Christian’s Prayer,” and she also noted that it was composed by the Reverend Frances A. Latta (graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, 1790), a wellregarded Presbyterian minister, poet, classics scholar and teacher.

Eliza Barclay Hammond was born in 1806 in Little Britain, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which borders on Harford County, Maryland. In 1825 she married Alexander Galbreath (1794-1859), a farmer from York County, Pennsylvania. They lived in Constitution, York County on the Galbreath family homestead and they had eleven children. When she died in 1892 the obituary in the local newspaper, The Delta Herald, referred to her as a “highly esteemed lady.”

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a corner-block frame.

Sampler size: 16” x 21”

Frame size: 20” x 25”

Price: $11,000.

Eliza R. Phelps, Norfolk, Connecticut, 1809 A handsome sampler with a fine house and many moralistic aphorisms and verse, this is inscribed; “Eliza R. Phelps’s Sampler / Aged 9 Years. Norfolk / Jan 10. 1829.” Eliza worked many maxims into the lines of alphabets and contained them in small frameworks: “Improve each moment as it flies,” “Be kind to all,” “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” “All to the gift of industry.” (continued on the next page)

Eliza R. Phelps, Norfolk, Connecticut, 1809 (cont.)

The town of Norfolk is in Litchfield County, in the northwestern corner of Connecticut. Eliza’s parents were Jedediah Phelps (1786-1867) and Harriet (Pease) Phelps who married in Norfolk in 1818. Jedediah was a farmer, who had also attended the renowned Litchfield Law School, as documented by the Litchfield Historical Society. Eliza Rosanna Phelps was the oldest of their five children, born on January 21, 1819. She finished this sampler on January 20, 1809, the day before her 10th birthday. The variety of stitches employed by Eliza is impressive, including examples of the queen’s-stitch, as seen in the two fat strawberries and the green and white sawtooth frameworks.

In 1848, Eliza married George Bennett (18111877), a bank president from Monticello, Sullivan County, New York, after the death of his first wife. They lived in Newburgh, NY where they raised the two children of George’s first marriage. Eliza died in 1908.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a cherry frame with an outer bead.

Sampler size: 16½” x 17”

Frame size: 20½” x 21”

Price: $5800.

Mary D. Herring, Malden, Massachusetts, 1803 Malden, Massachusetts is a small town north of Boston and just across the Mystic River from Charlestown. This sampler is inscribed, “Mary D. Herring her Sampler in the Eleventh Year of her Age. Malden 1803,” and above that presents a verse confirming that Mary was taught to make good use of her time. A pictorial register at the bottom includes large trees, a flowering plant, two little dogs and two large birds.

Mary Day Herring was the daughter of Ebenezer and Mary Herring and record of her birth on July 21, 1793 is in the records of Boston’s West Church. Her sister Sally was born in 1796 and we know of the existence of a sampler made by this Sally Herring, also in 1803. The Herring family appears in Malden records with the death of Ebenezer in 1810 and Mary, his widow, in 1836. Additionally, the History of Malden Massachusetts 1633-1785 (Malden, 1899) mentions that in 1808 the town meeting was held at the home of Ebenezer Herring, which was on Bailey’s Hill. Mary and her sister remained single and in Malden; they were listed as contributors to the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1855.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and a fine drawn work edging surrounds it on four sides. It is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a molded and painted frame.

Sampler size: 16¼” x 12¼”

Frame size: 18¾” x 14¾”

Price: $4800.

31

32

Sally Robinson, “White Dove Group,” Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1797 A highly regarded group of samplers worked in Deerfield, Massachusetts includes many motifs along with their signature element: a large white dove with open wings, outlined in black. While the name of the specific schoolmistress responsible for this motif isn’t known, samplers were made under her tutelage from 1791 until at least 1826. Sally Robinson, only 9 years of age, worked this handsome, large sampler, a fine newly discovered addition to the “White Dove Group.”

In addition to a particularly good white dove, Sally included in her composition other elements found on these Deerfield samplers: the inscription that appears in a solidly stitched rectangle, a row of linked hearts, a pair of crowned lions, many birds and other animals, and a large basket of fruit.

Genealogical research has been inconclusive, as the only Sally Robinson recorded of the correct age was born in Sanbornton, New Hampshire. In that some of the “White Dove Group” samplers were made by girls who must have attended as boarding students since they didn’t live in Deerfield, we may have the correct young lady, but can’t be certain.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a beveled cherry frame.

Sampler size: 21¼” x 15½”

Frame size: 25½” x 19¾”

Price: $7800.

Cornelia Anna Wells, Mayfield, Fulton County, New York, 1833 The small town of Mayfield, west of Saratoga Springs and on Great Sacandaga Lake, was home to the family of William Wells and his wife Ann DeGarmo, of French Huguenot heritage in the Albany area.

They were married in 1823 and their eldest, Cornelia Anna Wells was born on April 16, 1825. The sampler that she made in 1833 is an unusual one offering strong aesthetic appeal. The fully worked center scene features a shepherd and his flock near a cottage with a spotted brown dog helping to guard the sheep; a finely worked wreath of lovely coral and white flowers contains Cornelia’s inscription. A beautifully-composed wide border, its origins in the bands and borders used on 17th and 18th century samplers from England and Scotland, surrounds the sampler on four sides.

Cornelia married Henry Olmstead Stanley in 1844 and they had a daughter, Ann DeGarmo Stanley; sadly Henry died in 1848. Cornelia then married John Becker in 1850 and they had five children born between 1854 and 1869. History of Fulton County (D. Mason & Co., 1892) informs us that a 40 acre farm owned by John Becker encompassed the old homestead built in the 18th century by Abram Wells, grandfather of Mrs. John Becker (our samplermaker). This house was noted as one of the oldest frame buildings in Mayfield. Cornelia died in 1899.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame.

Sampler size: 16½” x 20”

Frame size: 21” x 24½”

Price: $11,000.

33

SELECTED NEEDLEWORK BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, Gloria Seaman. . Washington, DC: DAR

Museum, 1989.

, 1738-1860, Maryland Historical Society, 2007.

Columbia's Daughters: Girlhood Embroidery from the District of Columbia,

Chesapeake Book Company, Baltimore, Maryland, 2012.

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.

.

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. .

Needleprint & Ackworth School Estates Limited, 2006.

.

Ivey, Kimberly Smith.

Colonial Williamsburg and Curious Works Press, 1997.

Krueger, Glee F.

Parmal, Pamela A. Ring, Betty.

. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978. . Sturbridge, Massachusetts: Old Sturbridge Village, 1978. . 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. Ohio Samplers: Schoolgirl Embroideries 1803-1850.

Warren County Historical Society, 1988.

. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2002.

Swan, Susan B.

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977.

(detail of sampler by Elizabeth Bunker. page 8)

.

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.

q

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.

q

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.

q

Supply a reverse painted black glass mat, if appropriate, done in correct antique manner.

q

When necessary, install TruVue Conservation Clear glass which blocks 97% of the harmful ultraviolet light.

q

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 Agnes McMullan Plunket, page 4)

(detail of sampler by Sidney Caroline Hendricks, page 25)