Samplings: XLIV by M. Finkel & Daughter

VOLUME XLIV

Sam~lings: A SELECTED OFFERING OF ANTIQUE SAMPLERS AND NEEDLEWORK

est. 1947

M. Finkel ~ Daughter. AMERICA'S LEADING ANTIQUE SAMPLER & NEEDLEWORK DEALER

936 Pine Street. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. 19107-6128 215-627-7797.800-598-7432. fax 215-627-8199 www.samplings.com

(detail of sampler by Mary Seckel, page 5)

(detail of Colonial Spanish Embroidery, page 37)

Copyright ÂŠ 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, now the 44th edition of our catalogue of schoolgirl samplers and needlework, produced semiannually since 1992. It is our hope that you enjoy reading through this catalogue which presents 39 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 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 67th 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 can be available 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 FedEx air, insured. We look forward to your phone calls and emails with your questions and interests.

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 Mary Appleton, Ackworth School, Yorkshire, England, circa 1826.................................... 26 Basket of Strawberries in Shadowbox Frame, England, circa 1810................................... 12 Lucy Esther Bishop, Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut, 1838............................. 29 Martha Clark and Jane Church, Northampton, Massachusetts, circa 1805 and 1825....... 30 Colonial Spanish Embroidery, Colegio de la EseĂąanza, BogotĂĄ, Columbia, c. 1820......... 37 Mary C. Cotton, Springfield, Summit County, Ohio, 1841................................................ 31 Darning Sampler, Northern Europe, 1828......................................................................... 21 Susannah Donaha, Schenectady, New York, 1837.............................................................. 32 Susan Hamlin, Westford, Massachusetts, 1818.................................................................. 23 Two Heston Family Samplers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1804 and 1835........................ 15 Susan A. Hewlett, Cow Neck, Long Island, New York, 1834.............................................. 20 Ann Hiron, School at Longmarson, Warwickshire, England, 1738..................................... 6 Julia J. Hitchcock, Desire Dayton, Preceptress, Granville, New York, 1819...................... 28 Mary Eliza Jenkins, Bristol Orphanage, Bristol, England, 1880........................................ 12 Lady and Gentleman at Tea, England, mid 18th century..................................................... 9 Sarah Lent and Harriot Lent, London, England, 1799 and 1813....................................... 32 Mary A. Lithgow, Augusta, Maine, 1807............................................................................. 25 Susannah Loyd, Hatborough School, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1804.............. 28 Eleanor Caroline Malone, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1837............................................. 8 Phebe Randolph Morse, Annapolis, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1840........................................... 7 Margaret Isabella Morton, Georgetown, District of Columbia, 1828................................... 8 Prissiller Newhall, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1807....................................................... 1 Elizabeth Pearson, Pennsylvania, 1818.............................................................................. 11 Sarah Jane Pollock, Millburn, Antioch Township, Lake County, Illinois, circa 1850.......... 2 Lucretia Prescott, Litchfield, Connecticut, 1825................................................................. 3 Miniature Printwork Silk Embroidery, England, circa 1810............................................. 34 Mary W. Roberts, Willow Grove, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1833...................... 16 Mary Roe of Frederica, Newark Boarding School, Delaware, 1835...................................... 4 Mary Seckel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1786.................................................................... 5 Julia Ann Shorey, Boston Female Asylum, Boston, Massachusetts, 1806.......................... 17 Ann S. Sleeper, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1827.............................................................. 35 Ann Smith, Westtown School, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1809................................. 27 Mary E. Smith, Baltimore, Maryland, 1841........................................................................ 10 Eliza Surman, Miniature Sampler, England, 1807............................................................. 34 Emily Tinkham, Enfield Shaker Community, Connecticut, 1863...................................... 24 Eliza Wells, Wethersfield, Connecticut, circa 1815............................................................ 14 Helen White, Wiscasset, Maine, 1840................................................................................. 35 Juliann Wilson, Nottingham West, New Hampshire, 1818................................................ 22 Wyker Family Needlework Picture, Tinicum, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, c. 1820......... 17

(detail of sampler by Ann Hiron, page 6)

Prissiller Newhall, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1807 Samplers worked in early 19th century Portsmouth, New Hampshire, then a bustling and wealthy seaport town, include one of the most significant and aesthetically appealing groups of all American samplers – the “House and Barn Samplers.” In Female Worth and Elegance: Samplers and Needlework Students and Teachers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire 1741-1840, by John F. LaBranche and Rita F. Conant (The Portsmouth Marine Society, 1996), reveals much about these samplers, and illustrates a number of them. The relatively simple house is generally shown in three-quarter view and connected by a nicely delineated fence and gate to the barn, often shown with a round window above the double barn door. Some Portsmouth schoolgirls worked on the more common beige colored linen of course but those worked on green linsey-woolsey backgrounds, for reasons that are obvious to all, are the most desirable of this group. Portsmouth “House and Barn Samplers” are in the collections of Strawbery Banke Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, Smithsonian and the Portsmouth Historical Society. This large, exemplary sampler is a recently discovered addition to this group and is now the earliest known one of its type. Signed in bright green silk stitches under the scene, “Prissiller Newhall Portsmouth NH Aged 10, 1807,” it presents a splendid rendition of the house, fence and barn in the lower register, a fine moralistic verse with various alphabets above and is framed by a tight trefoil border. The vertical leafy vines of free-form pink and white flower blossoms contribute well to the composition. Research led us to the attribution of the samplermaker as Priscilla (more commonly used version of Prisciller) Newhall who was born on September 8, 1797 in Lynnfield, Massachusetts to Aaron and Hannah (Foster) Newhall; Aaron was a housewright, as was his father, Ezekiel Newhall (1743/44-1821). The Newhall family lived in Essex County, Massachusetts, but also had ties to out of state. We know that Priscilla, at age sixteen, was living in Maine, when her uncle, David Foster, was appointed as her legal guardian, subsequent to the death of Aaron. It seems certain that Priscilla had been sent to board in Portsmouth, New Hampshire when she attended school and made this sampler in 1807. Worked in silk on linsey-woolsey, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a maple and cherry frame. Sampler size: 21¾” x 19¾”

Frame size: 26” x 24”

Price: $24,000.

Sarah Jane Pollock, Millburn, Antioch Township, Lake County, Illinois, circa 1850 Beginning in the second quarter of the 19th century, many Americans, both those with roots in the east and those who were newly minted, settled in to the Midwestern part of the country. Along with many other institutions, schools were established and, no doubt, many schools for young ladies followed the traditions from the East, even as some were no longer popular where they originated. Beautifully worked samplers were still made in the 1850s and even 1860s in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, although examples are rarely found. We are very pleased to offer this praiseworthy sampler made in Millburn, a small town near Lake Michigan, midway between Chicago and Milwaukee. The sampler offers wonderful documentation, history and context; it is accompanied by the diploma of first premium that was awarded to its maker at an annual agricultural fair. Above all it offers excellent stitching and strong aesthetic appeal, as it adheres to the classic traditions that we enjoy when studying samplers made along the eastern states in the beginning of the 19th century. Portrait and Biographical Album of Lake County, Illinois Containing Full Page Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County (Chicago, 1891), includes information regarding the family of Robert Pollock (1798-1861) and Elizabeth Kennedy (1797-1879). They were both born in Scotland and married there. Arriving in the United States in 1827, they lived in Pennsylvania, then New Hampshire and Massachusetts, ultimately settling in Antioch Township, Illinois in 1839. The first permanent claims of the government of the United States on Antioch Township were made in 1836 and the first house was built in 1837. The Pollock family was among the earliest of pioneers. The aforementioned book states, “Mr. Pollock was a man of sterling worth and soon became a prominent citizen in the community. He was honored with a number of local offices and for many years served as Justice of the Peace. He was an Abolitionist when it was dangerous to pronounce one’s views in favor of that party … One of the earliest pioneers of Lake County, he was also one of its best citizens.” The Pollocks had eleven children, Sarah Jane, the maker of this sampler, was born on December 16, 1835, in Pennsylvania. She was four years old when they found their way to Illinois. (continued on the next page)

Sarah Jane Pollock, Millburn, Antioch Township, Lake County, Illinois, circa 1850 (cont.) Sarah Jane’s family register sampler was likely made circa 1850, as evidenced by the slight change in threads used to stitch the later information. The vital statistics of family members appear along with a four-line verse, various motifs and an outstanding rendition of a house and lawn scene, complete with an out building, lines of fences and gates and four geese walking across the lush grass. A little black dog approaches the path and several pine trees are worked into the lawn, as well. Interestingly, the Annual Fair of the Millburn Agricultural Society, which displayed and rewarded the sampler in 1859, was in its first year, having just been established, in part by one of Sarah Jane’s older brothers, John K. Pollock. Sarah Jane died on August 8, 1865 and is buried at the Hickory Union Cemetery in Antioch. The sampler remained in the family for some generations, quite fittingly and fortunately, along with its framed diploma, which will continue to accompany it. The needlework is extremely tight and fine, having been worked in silk onto punched board of equally fine scale. Whereas schoolgirls working in New England in the early 19th century were given linen on which to stitch, this type of base or ground was what was then available, given its mid-19th century origin. It is in excellent condition and remains in its original fine mahogany frame. Sampler size: 21” x 17”

Frame size: 26½” x 22½”

Price: $6800.

Lucretia Prescott, Litchfield, Connecticut, 1825 Family Register samplers were uniquely American when they were first made in the very early 19th century; this form of sampler served to document the vital statistics of a family, while providing a worthy project for a young samplermaker. Lucretia Prescott was 10 years old, living in the town of Litchfield, in northwestern Connecticut when she worked this praiseworthy piece. It begins with renditions of the alphabet, presents the family register, proceeds to a poem that extolls the sampler as a canvas that charms the eye, but warns that only the immortal mind will survive time. It then finishes with an excellent portrayal of a basket of flowers flanked by leafy braches with large blossoms. This must have been considered an impressive accomplishment for ten-year-old Lucretia. James and Lucretia (Culver) Prescott were married in 1799 and had nine children, with their daughter Lucretia second to last. An 1827 document in the Litchfield Historical Society shows James Prescott deeding land, but further information about him has not been easily uncovered. Research into the history of the maternal side of this family, the Culvers, has been more productive. Samuel Culver (1691-1770) was born in Norwich, New London County, Connecticut and, with his parents, removed to Litchfield in 1698. He became one of the important early settlers of this area, prominent in many aspects of the affairs of the town. Descendants from the many children that he and his wife, Hannah (Hibbard) Culver had carried on this legacy in Litchfield for many generations. 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 maple bead. Sampler size: 17” x 11½”

Frame size: 20¼” x 14¾”

Price: $3800.

Mary Roe of Frederica, Newark Boarding School, Delaware, 1835 Documented Delaware samplers are the subject of an important new study being conducted by the Delaware Schoolgirl Sampler Project, an initiative of the Sampler Archive Project, and the results will form, in part, the basis of a scholarly new book by Gloria Allen. This publication, scheduled for 2015, will contribute greatly by expanding our collective knowledge in this area, as have Dr. Allen’s extant books regarding Maryland and District of Columbia samplers and silk embroideries. Amongst the previously known Delaware schools was Newark Boarding School, operated by the Rev. Samuel Bell. This school was first identified through a sampler at Winterthur Museum, worked by E. A. Townsend in 1835; it was accompanied by the information that it was executed at Mr. Bell’s School in Newark. Dr. Allen’s research lead to the identification of this school as the Newark Boarding School, in part through an announcement published in 1828 in the Delaware Patriot and American Watchman that indicated that Reverend Bell’s Young Ladies’ Boarding School had been in operation for at least seven years. Winterthur’s sampler features a central, octagonal framework containing a verse and inscription, and stylish corner elements depicting two-handled baskets and urns. The discovery of a second sampler, our excellent example made by Mary Roe (1821-1904) of Frederica, Delaware, also worked in 1835, confirms the importance of the samplers worked at this school. Rev. Samuel Bell (1776-1855) was influential in the field of education in Delaware for many decades in the first half of the 19th century and served as a trustee upon the founding of Delaware College in 1833. The daughter of William and Elizabeth (Deweese) Roe, Mary was born on September 12, 1821. She would have been fourteen years old when she attended Newark Boarding School and worked her sampler. In 1841, Mary married James Cahill and they had six children before James died in 1853. In 1856, Mary and William Satterfield were married and they had children of their own. Mary died on April 12, 1904 and is buried in Frederica. This sampler is slated to be illustrated in Dr. Allen’s upcoming book on Delaware needlework. It was worked in wool and silk on linen and is in excellent condition with some very minor loss to some of the red wool stitches. The sampler has been conservation mounted into its outstanding, original decorated frame. Sampler size: 18¼” x 16¾”

Frame size: 22½” x 20”

Price: $13,000.

Mary Seckel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1786 A highly unusual sampler, this features the exotic subject matter of a gentleman seated inside a pale blue tent with three large camels and various other pictorial images nearby. Published as figure 382 by Betty Ring in Girlhood Embroidery, vol. II, it has long been considered one of the most interesting of all late 18th century Philadelphia samplers. As noted by Mrs. Ring there is one other sampler, made by Ann Buller in the same year and illustrated in American Samplers by Bolton & Coe (Massachusetts Society of Colonial Dames of American, 1921), that shares this composition and no prototype has been found for these exuberant scenes. Born in 1775 in Philadelphia, Mary was the daughter of Laurence / Lawrence and Babraba (Chrystler) Seckel. The family, part of the thriving Pennsylvania German community, lived at 8th and Market Streets. By many published accounts, such as The Botanists of Philadelphia by John W. Harshberger (Philadelphia, 1809) and Market Street Philadelphia The Most Historic Highway in America Its Merchants and Its Story by Joseph Jackson (Philadelphia, 1918), the Seckel pear as we know it today was found on his property and popularized by Laurence Seckel. The “original” tree was still standing as of 1842. Laurence was a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature, one of the managers of Pennsylvania Hospital, a trustee of the Young Ladies Seminary and a founder of Philadelphia’s Saint John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mary married Adam Guier, Jr. (1775-1832) in 1796 and they lived in the Kingsessing neighborhood of the city. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in very good condition, but with loss to the black lettering of the verse near the top, minor darkening to a small area within the next verse and one area of loss to the linen. It has been conservation mounted and is in a 19th century gold frame. Sampler size: 20¾” x 19¼” Frame size: 25¾” x 24¼” Price: $60,000.

Ann Hiron, School at Longmarson, Warwickshire, England, 1738 In her book entitled Samplers, from the Fitzwilliam Museum and Cambridge University Press, Carol Humphrey’s writes on page 64, while discussing a specific 1744 sampler, about “Tablet Samplers.” Samplers inscribed with the Lord’s Prayer, a Creed, or the Ten Commandments became increasingly popular in England from the 1720s. Their format was similar to the painted boards displayed in churches of the day, with the appropriate religious tract set out for the education of the congregation. The combination of moral edification and instruction in stitching was embraced enthusiastically by governesses and schoolteachers. The fervent evangelism of Dr. Isaac Watts, John Wesley, and their contemporaries profoundly influenced education in the English-speaking world on both sides of the Atlantic. This trend is well illustrated by the increase in morally uplifting inscriptions on eighteenth-century samplers.

This tablet sampler was worked by “Ann Hiron, Work Done In The School att [sic] Longmarson 1738.” Now called Long Marston, it is located along the southwest border of Warwickshire, just southwest of Stratford-upon-Avon. Very fine and neat stitches create the lettering throughout, though in some instances Ann misjudged the spacing and had to squeeze in letters or let them run right through the framework of the tablet itself – always a charming display of youthful human error. A sawtooth border surrounds her inscription, as well as a splendid flower motif in which she incorporated the competent use of metallic thread. The elaborate polychrome border frames her composition well. This is one of the finest and earliest "Tablet Samplers" that we have seen in many years. Worked in silk and metallic thread on wool, the sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine maple and cherry bevel frame. Sampler size: 15½” x 11” Frame size: 19¼” x 14¾” Price: $7800.

Phebe Randolph Morse, Annapolis, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1840 Highly-developed Canadian samplers are rarely found and, in many ways, this outstanding example made by Phebe Randolph Morse in 1840, is the finest 19th century one that we have come to know. Eleven-year-old Phebe centered her composition on a spectacular brick house flanked by folky willow trees; a pair of black dogs guards the front door. The house is wonderfully detailed, with delicate mullions and louvered shutters on each window, a widow’s walk between the chimneys and a front door sporting both a knob and a knocker. The inscription and tightly worked poem, “The Hope of a Sunday School Scholar,” further demonstrate Phebe’s skill. Included in the inscription is the place name, Annapolis (also known as Annapolis Royal), an historic town on the Annapolis River in Nova Scotia 10 kilometers from the Bay of Fundy. Researching the genealogy of Phebe Randolph Morse was particularly rewarding. Handley Chipman Morse (1795-1862) married Jerusha Tupper (1795-1837) on October 1, 1818. Prior generations had deep roots in America. Samuel Morse, eight generations back from Phebe, settled in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635; it was Abner Morse, who, over a century later in 1760, sailed from Boston to Annapolis, Nova Scotia, along with some of his livestock - two oxen, two cows and one horse, (Who Begot Thee? by Gilbert O. Bent, Boston, 1903). Settling on land that had been formerly owned by banished Frenchmen, Morse came to hold over 1000 acres by 1770. A somewhat similar story and further published records indicate that the Chipman great-grandfather, magistrate Hon. Handley Chipman (1717-1799), lived in Sandwich and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts and then Newport, Rhode Island. “After Acadia was taken by the British, they desired to colonise [sic] it from New England, knowing the sturdy character of the people of the latter place. Consequently they offer great inducements in the way of land grant ... Rhode Island was one of the places from whence many sailed for Nova Scotia. Handley Chipman was a man of education and of literary tastes. Writings of his are still extant. He held the offices of Justice of the Peace and Judge of Probate in Cornwallis,” (Genealogiae or Data Concerning the Families of Morse, Chipman, etc. by Mary Lovering Holman, 1925). Phebe was born on July 26, 1829, the sixth of the Morse’s eight children. Interestingly, a 1934 published reminiscence, The Romance of Old Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia, by Charlotte Isabella Perkins, includes information about two private schools in which the female students were known to have worked samplers; one of these is likely the school that Phebe attended. She remained single and lived with her brother John, a merchant, and his wife Amanda, in Clarence, a small town just north of Annapolis. Phebe died at age 69 and is buried at the Pine Grove Cemetery in nearby Middleton. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a cherry and maple corner-block frame. Sampler size: 17¾” x 16¾” Price: $6800.

Frame size: 21¾” x 20¾”

Eleanor Caroline Malone, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1837 A splendid sampler, this was in the renowned collection of Mary Jaene Edmonds and published in her book, Samplers and Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850 (Rizzoli, 1991), as figure 18. The sampler was also exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1991. Here, in part, is Mrs. Edmonds’ description of the sampler: This remarkable sampler, worked by Eleanor Caroline Malone at the age of eight, was probably stitched in the vicinity of Essex County, Massachusetts. Sometime later in life, Eleanor was prompted by vanity to remove the date on her sampler. A large number of sampler embroideries underwent similar alterations as their makers grew to adulthood. Eleanor’s sampler has a finely stitched border of rosebuds and shaded leaves, with a woven basket of country flowers at the center top. A green field with a luxurious house and a large, strangely contoured tree dominates the foreground.

Recent genealogical research led us to the identity of the maker, Eleanor Caroline Malone who was born on February 27, 1828, the eldest daughter of John Michael Malone (born in Ireland in 1797) and his wife, Lydia (Bryant) Malone, who married in Boston in 1827. The family removed to Racine, Wisconsin in 1844 and Eleanor married Walter E. Dodge there in 1847. Genealogy of the Dodge Family of Essex County, Massachusetts, by Joseph Thompson Dodge (Madison, Wisconsin, 1898), tells us that Eleanor and Walter headed further west and later joined the Mormons, following Brigham Young; sometime in the 1860s the connection between the family and the Mormon Church was severed, but they remained in St. George, Utah. Their eight children were born between 1848 and 1872. Eleanor died there in 1894. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in very good condition with some securing to the background linen. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled cherry frame with a maple outer bead. Sampler size: 16¾” x 16”

Frame: 19¾” x 19”

Price: $9000.

Margaret Isabella Morton, Georgetown, District of Columbia, 1828 Columbia’s Daughters: Girlhood Embroidery from the District of Columbia, by Gloria S. Allen (Chesapeake Book Company, 2011), is an excellent and meticulously-researched book that adds greatly to the field, presenting some extraordinary samplers and silk embroideries, and much information about the schools and academies located there. Understandably, needlework made by the girls from Washington City, Georgetown and Alexandria do not exist in great numbers and so the emergence of a previously undocumented sampler is unusual. Completed on November 12 of 1828, this is a beautifully stitched sampler made by Margaret Isabella Morton, who was only eight years old at the time. (continued on the next page)

Margaret Isabella Morton, Georgetown, DC, 1828 (cont.) Margaret was born circa 1820, the third daughter of William and Isabella Morton; we are grateful to Gloria Allen and Susi Slocum for their research, which indicates that William was a high level clerk in the Treasury Department as early as 1822. In 1837, he was listed as the third man under the Treasury’s chief auditor, working in the Old Executive Office, located east of the Presidents House. His salary, of $1400, was published in The Washington Guide (Washington City, 1837). Margaret’s older sisters, Marion, (born circa 1812) and Adeline (born circa 1817), were students at Lydia English’s Seminary, a well-know and long-standing institution in Georgetown (see Columbia’s Daughters, pages 86 – 99) and so we know that they were properly educated in the needle arts. It may well be that Margaret was taught to make a sampler by her talented older sisters, and did so while at home. Our samplermaker, Margaret, died very young, on November 5, 1832, in her thirteenth year. The family remained a prominent one for many years and continued to reside in Georgetown. Isabella Morton (the mother) died in 1870, then a widow, in residence at 117 West Street, with four adult daughters. Worked in silk on linen, this sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a molded mahogany frame. Sampler size: 15½” x 16”

Frame size: 17½” x 18”

Price: $3600.

Lady and Gentleman at Tea, England, mid 18th century Occasionally we come across a piece of needlework, not necessarily a sampler, which offers a subject with great appeal; here a lady and a gentleman are having tea at a pedestal tea table on a patterned, fringed rug. The central scene of this large and outstanding pictorial embroidery is surrounded by skillfully worked frames of flowers, and further bordered by tiny flower baskets pointing inward, all in a vibrant polychrome palette and incorporating various stitching techniques, such as berries formed by petite French knots. The outer border is a more lavish version of the inner framework; larger flowers and grapes surround, and bundled with shaded blue bows in each corner. Hand stitched in crewel wool and silk on a very tight linen ground fabric, the work remains in excellent condition. It has now been professionally mounted onto a stretcher and fit into a custom contemporary maple frame. Sight size: 33½” x 36”

Frame size: 35½” x 38”

Price: $3800.

Mary E. Smith, Baltimore, Maryland, 1841 We are delighted to offer this outstanding sampler made by Mary E. Smith in 1841; it is part of a very small group of highly appealing Baltimore samplers, dubbed the “Diagonal Path Samplers” by Maryland researchers. These samplers were made in the five years between 1836 and 1841 and their shared characteristics include their eponymous diagonal paths designated by fencing, central doublechimney houses with half of an outbuilding included at each of the lower corners of the lawn, fat ducks and little dogs, and tall, sharply styled trees. The samplermakers can all be traced to a neighborhood in Baltimore centered on the Gay Street Zion Lutheran Church; the families of these samplermakers all had connections to this church, and in some cases, the fathers of these girls were partners in businesses in the immediate neighborhood. While the school that they attended has not yet been identified, we are certain that the teacher who designed the sampler composition and instructed this handful of girls was a needlework artist in her own right. Mary’s sampler is somewhat more sophisticated than the others in this group; notably there is greater architectural detail on the main house and Mary is the only samplermaker to have worked this excellent border of grape bunches on grapevines. Extensive research has led to the conclusion that Mary Eliza Smith was born on April 23, 1826, the eldest of six children of John and Julia Smith. John was a baker and the family lived in the neighborhood shared by other makers of “Diagonal Path Samplers.” On September 26, 1850, Mary married Charles W. Gold and they became the parents of at least three children. The 1860 census shows the family living with four of Mary’s sisters and one brother. Sadly, Capt. Charles Gold drowned, dying on August 20, 1867. Mary and her children and her adult siblings are found in the 1870 census, and Mary likely died prior to 1880. A great deal more of family history and information accompanies this sampler. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in very good condition with a small area of loss to the lower right corner; this has been replaced and stabilized. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame. Sampler size: 15¾” square

Frame size: 20¼” square

Price: $9500.

Elizabeth Pearson, Pennsylvania, 1818

Elizabeth Pearson offers a most appealing house and lawn scene on her sampler, which she wrought in 1818 when she was in her 13th year of age. An inviting brick-style house with windows framed in blue thread, front steps flanked by flowering shrubs and a leafy vine growing up the right side sits to the right of a tall woman in a blue and white checkered dress. The house is balanced by a large white and pale blue basket of hearty polychrome flowers with a fat queen’s-stitched red and pink strawberry nestled at the bottom of it. Black and white animals graze along the turquoise lawn of long stitches, while butterflies float above the woman. Alphabets and numerical progressions, two-by-two in varying colored silk, span the top. Dividing this from the scene are the hymn, Morning Song, and Elizabeth’s inscription. The same black silk utilized for this wording was also used to create a cross-stitched framework surrounding the work on three sides, and nicely extends into queen’s-stitched elements at the top corners. Elizabeth stitched an outer border of a strawberry vine, which encloses the composition including the lawn which it outlines, as well. While we can’t be certain of the identity of Miss Pearson, her work shares characteristics with other known Pennsylvania samplers. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame with maple inner and outer beads. Sampler size: 16” x 12½”

Frame size: 20” x 16½”

Price: $12,500.

Basket of Strawberries in Shadowbox Frame, England, circa 1810 Many dedicated needleworkers in 18th and 19th century England and the United States continued to work on excellent projects throughout their lives. Ladies created wonderfully whimsical stuffed work, appliquéd and embroidered pictures, which were then framed in shadow boxes. In this case, a stitched and woven feltwork lattice basket is worked in strong relief from its ground and stuffed with many of fat round strawberries. The berries are worked in three dimensions, stuffed and shaded from red to white; and stitched seeds are worked on every strawberry. Added details include the green “leafy” gauze surrounding the berries in the basket, and as the leafy tops of the two stray berries charmingly seated at the base of the basket. A brass metal hook was also incorporated to give the appearance that the basket is hanging. The work remains in its excellent original deep shadowbox frame with gold leaf over carving and gold inner side walls of the frame, which have remained vibrant under glass, and nicely add contrast to the deep brown wool background and a wonderful richness to the overall affect. Worked in wool and silk on wool the piece remains in excellent condition. Sight size: 15” x 11”

Frame size: 18” x 14” (3” deep)

Price: $3200.

Mary Eliza Jenkins, Bristol Orphanage, Bristol, England, 1880 There exists a group of very well-documented and beautifully made samplers that were worked at the Bristol Orphanage from the 1860s through the 1890s. This institution was founded by George Müller (1805-1898), a charitable-minded, Christian evangelist and preacher, and the lives led by the enormous number of orphans housed and educated there throughout the years were based largely on religion. Their education was also geared to provide skills that would ultimately help them gain employment, many in the field of domestic service, thus needlework of the highest quality was central to the curriculum for the females. The samplers worked there are highly recognizable and renowned for their great precision and minute detail. The City of Bristol Museum owns several of these, and a 1983 catalogue that accompanied an exhibition notes that the Bristol Orphanage samplers were “invariably worked in red … and are distinguished by the regimented rows of alphabets and small border patterns.” Other hallmarks of the Bristol samplers are depictions of many tiny pictorial motifs that can include the Bible, houses, ships, trains, animals and baskets of fruit. The composition is always structured and balanced, although, of course, some needleworkers showed greater talent than others in their composition and execution.

(continued on the next page)

Mary Eliza Jenkins, Bristol Orphanage, England, 1880 (cont.) The Bristol Orphanage kept detailed, hand-written records regarding the children that they took in and cared for; their archives include in-depth correspondence in some cases. It was through these records that we came to learn much about the maker of this sampler, Mary Eliza Jenkins. She was born on November 12, 1865 in Wedmore, Somerset County, England, to William and Honor (Poole Raines) Jenkins. William and Honor both died of pneumonia within five days of each other in June, 1875, in Wells, a nearby village where the family lived. Mary Eliza was briefly in the care of her aunt, Anna Raines, but she was unable to provide a home for young Mary Eliza, likely because she was in service as a housekeeper. Rev. Sydenham Hervey, a local vicar, stepped in and arranged with George Müller for Mary Eliza’s application to the orphanage, and she was admitted into Girls’ Department A, Number 3, on November 23. Small annual payments from a little rental cottage and garden left by her parents were to be paid to the Müller organization on her behalf. Seven years later, on March 9, 1882, Mary Eliza left the orphanage, delivered to her aunt Anna, who was able to provide a home for her at that time. Included in the stitched inscription are specifics about where Mary Eliza was housed: South Wing, New Orphan Houses, Ashley Down. One of her rows of lettering, the lowest continuous horizontal row (twelve from the top), is a series of initials; these are, no doubt, those of her friends and classmates at Ashley Down. But the row just above that offers a fascinating insight into the lives of the orphans – after a numerical listing of 1 through 0 there appear over a dozen three digit numbers, beginning with “792.” Each orphan was assigned a number when she or he was admitted, but by the late 19th century these were all four digit numbers; Mary Eliza was #4614. Photos from the Bristol archives are the key to these three digit numbers as they show that the beds, lined up in the dormitories, were each painted with a number and it was these numbers that Mary Eliza stitched; they may correspond to the initials listed below them on the sampler. Bristol Orphanage samplers come onto the market only rarely and, for obvious reasons, are highly sought after. Worked in silk on cotton, this is in excellent condition with very minor discoloring of the cotton. It has been conservation mounted and is in a maple and mahogany frame. Sampler size: 15¾” x 12¾”

Frame size: 18¾” x 15¾”

Price: $14,000.

Eliza Wells, Wethersfield, Connecticut, circa 1815 The samplers of Wethersfield, Connecticut are a highly regarded group that features wonderful landscape and townscape scenes, often with family record information centered under garlands of flowers and bows. In Girlhood Embroidery vol. I, (Knopf, 1993), Betty Ring discusses Wethersfield

samplers on pages 224 to 229, and illustrates some striking examples. This praiseworthy sampler was worked by Eliza Wells and is an exemplary part of this group; it was in the renowned collection of Mary Jaene Edmonds, author of Samplers and Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850 (Rizzoli, 1991) for many years. Long stitches of crinkled silk form the large building and many of the flower blossoms, while large numbers of French knots were used with fine effect for foliage on the trees. The tiny scene of houses in the background at right is painted directly on the linen, another characteristic of the Wethersfield samplers. Eliza was the eldest child of Daniel Wells and his first wife, Honor (Francis) Wells, who married in Wethersfield in 1799. The Wells family descended from Thomas Wells (1590-1660) who arrived in America in 1636 and settled in Hartford, Connecticut. He was one of the colony’s most prominent early citizens and became the fourth governor of the colony of Connecticut, serving in that position from 1655 until his death. Seven generations later, Eliza Wells was born on September 24, 1800 and worked this sampler when she was about fifteen years old. Her mother, Honor, died on September 8, 1812 as Eliza stitched onto her sampler, and Daniel remarried in November of 1813 to Catherine Chapin, also recorded on this sampler. The family removed to Oneida County, New York and Eliza died there in 1841, unmarried. The sampler was worked in silk and paint on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a beveled cherry frame with a black bead. Sampler size: 16½” x 19½”

Frame size: 20” x 23”

Price: $8400.

Two Heston Family Samplers, Philadelphia, PA, 1804 and 1835

We are always pleased when samplers made within a family remain together, and such is the case with these two interesting examples made by different generations of members of the Heston family, a prominent Philadelphia family. The sampler with the brick house on a grassy lawn with two dogs was made in 1804 by Matilda Heston (1793-1880) when she was 12 years old and the marking sampler was made in 1835 by her niece, Eliza Heston (1823- after 1920) when she too was 12 years old she was attending the “Heston Ville School,” named for the village in what is now West Philadelphia and established by the family circa 1800. The school was a stone one-classroom building founded in 1829, and Eliza’s aunt, Matilda was one of the grantors and a trustee. The primogenitor of the family was Zebulon Heston, who left England circa 1700, eventually settling on several hundred acres of land in the western part of Philadelphia. Zebulon’s grandson, Edward Warner Heston (1745-1824) served in the Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel after he was wounded and held prisoner by the British. Published histories also indicate that he was on the staff of George Washington and helped to save the Continental Army from surprise by the British. Edward and his wife Sarah (Hall) Heston were Free Quakers. Later in life he was a state senator and judge and was the founder of Hestonville, in Blockley Township, encompassing what is now the 54th and Lancaster Streets area. One of his 14 children was Matilda, the older of our two samplermakers. Matilda’s older half-brother was Isaac Heston, born 1771, and his daughter, Eliza, made the other sampler. She noted on her sampler that her teacher was S. McLaurin. Interestingly, we happen to know this to be Sarah McLaurin, who was a teacher at the nearby Blockley School in 1832. In 1842 the City of Philadelphia purchased the “Heston Ville School” building from the trustees and incorporated it into the public school system. Matilda and Eliza remained Quakers and neither married. The two samplers remained in the family, owned by Eliza’s sister, Mary (Heston) Hall and then her daughter. A family photo of Eliza as an older lady accompanies the samplers. Both samplers were made in silk on linen and are in excellent condition. They have each been conservation mounted and are in beveled tiger maple frames with black bead. Matilda’s sampler size: 10” x 8½” Frame size: 12¾” x 11½” Eliza’s sampler size: 8½” x 8¼” Frame size: 11¼” x 11”

Price for the pair: $8200.

Mary W. Roberts, Willow Grove, Montgomery County, PA, 1833 This large and very handsome sampler was worked by a young Quaker girl, Mary W. Roberts, in 1833. Mary likely attended a school connected to a Friends Meeting House, perhaps the Horsham Monthly Meeting, which recorded Mary’s birth on “11 month 7 day 1822,” according to their minutes. The many beautifully worked motifs clearly reveal the sampler’s Quaker origins and the outstanding basket of strawberries, fully worked in the queen’s-stitch, attest to the high level of Mary’s skill. An overall balanced and pleasing composition is grounded by a tightly-worked teal blue lawn which supports three different baskets of flowers. A four-line verse that uses the blossoms of flowers as metaphor for the fleeting nature of life was carefully stitched and additional motifs include butterflies and birds. An oval cartouche contains Mary’s name and date, and the threesided border, which utilizes the classic Quaker bell-flower at the center of the top, frames it well. That it remains in its excellent original mahogany frame is to its great advantage. Mary was the first of the two children born to a farmer, Robert Roberts and his wife Hannah (Tyson) Roberts, members of the Horsham Meeting. They lived in nearby Abington and Moreland Townships. Ancestors included many prominent family names of the Society of Friends from Philadelphia and environs: Morris, Kirk, Michener and Livezey. On the 3 month 7 day 1844, Mary married Edwin Child Walton at her parents’ home in a Quaker ceremony. Edwin was also a farmer and member of the same Meeting, born in 1821. They became the parents of two sons, born in 1846 and 1848. Mary died at age 88 in 1910 and is buried at Horsham Meeting, a life-long member. The file that accompanies this sampler includes photocopies of many handwritten Quaker Meeting records, as well as those from other published sources. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition with some slight weakness to the linen in the upper right corner. It has been conservation mounted and is in its fine original mahogany frame. Sampler size: 21½” x 17½”

Frame size: 26” x 22”

Price: $4300.

Wyker Family Needlework Picture, Tinicum, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, circa 1820 There is an unusual, lyrical quality to this small needlework picture, which depicts four heart-shaped vases with free-form flowers on boldly stitched, leafy braches, creating a compelling image. Three names were worked in delicate script along the bottom: Maryann Wyker, Susanna Wyker and William Wyker. They were siblings, the children of George and Mary (George) Wyker who married in Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia, in 1782. The Vineland Historical Magazine Devoted to History, Biography, Genealogy by Frank D. Andrews (Vineland, NJ, 1918), published information from the Wyker family Bible, which includes the following handwritten introduction: “This Bible was bought the second of February one thousand eight hundred and fifteen (1815) by George Wyker. Price $8.50.” Mr. Wyker went on to record interesting information such as, “About the first day of March, 1843, a large comet appeared in the southwest and continued visible for about 30 days, it was one of the larger class of comets.” An abiding interest in natural occurrences must have also led Mr. Wyker to write a section entitled, “Recorded Floods of the River Delaware Since the Country was Settled by White Inhabitants,” in which he describes the floods that his ancestors and he observed between 1734 and 1846. More personal information that he included confirms the Wyker family marriage and the births. Maryann was born on September 7, 1813, Susanna on June 1, 1801 and William on July 15, 1819. While we cannot know with certainty which Wyker daughter worked this piece, its refined characteristics would suggest that it was made circa 1820, by Susanna Wyker. The sampler was worked in silk on fine linen gauze and is in excellent condition. Conservation mounted, it is now in a cherry frame with an outer bead. Sampler size: 10” x 8”

Frame size: 13¼” x 11¼”

Price: $4600.

Julia Ann Shorey, Boston Female Asylum, Boston, MA, 1806 This essay was written for us by Mary Yacovone, Senior Cataloguer, Massachusetts Historical Society. It was Mary’s excellent research into both the institution and the samplermaker that provided much of the fascinating information in this case. The optimism and earnest display of newly learned skills evidenced on seven-year-old Julia Ann Shorey’s 1806 sampler stitched at the Boston Female Asylum betray little of the curious and tragic story behind it. The first lines of her verse, “The Lightning’s awful stroke destroyed / My youth’s support my Parents’ dear” provides us with a hint, but the rest of the story is even more compelling. Julia was born about 1799, the second child of three born to Miles and Love (Breed) Shorey. Miles was a fourth generation descendant of Samuel Shorey of York County, Maine, and Love was a member of the Breed family, a prominent one in the history of Lynn, Massachusetts. Miles was a cordwainer or shoemaker, a member of the working class. He and his young family shared a home on Boston Street in Lynn, Massachusetts with several other people. (continued on the next page)

Julia Ann Shorey, Boston Female Asylum, Boston, Massachusetts, 1806 (cont.) One can only assume that the morning of Sunday July 10, 1803 was a typical one for the family. Love had recently given birth to a girl, Nabby, and her mother, Abigail Breed, was in Lynn for a visit from neighboring Salem. When a thunderstorm arose, it may have attracted little notice until the Shorey house was struck, instantly killing Miles and his wife, who at the time was holding the baby in her arms. The History of Lynn records that the “bolt appeared like a ball of fire … struck the western chimney … One branch melted a watch which hung over the chamber mantle, passed over the cradle of a sleeping infant … separated into two branches above the wife and husband …One part struck Mrs. Shorey on the side of her head … the other part entered Mr. Shorey’s bosom …” Newspaper reports, which were widely circulated in the days after the accident, add that Love “had a babe in her arms, which sustained no other injury than having its hair a little burnt.” Although the house was “shattered … considerably,” remarkably none of the seventeen other people reported to be in the house at the time were injured. Miles and Love were buried in a single grave, in the words of Reverend Thomas Cushing Thacher, “Lovely and pleasant in their lives, in their death they were not divided.”

The following Sunday, Rev. Thacher, a Congregational minister in Lynn, preached a funeral sermon “occasioned by the death of Mr. Miles Shory and wife, who were instantly killed by lightning.” As one might expect, the main theme of the sermon was the “uncertainty of the time and manner of [death’s] approach—the infinite danger of delaying preparation for our last hour.” Although he makes sure to note that one “may not judge of the characters of persons from their outward circumstances,” he also makes it clear to his hearers that the Shoreys’ tragedy was one of “wonder and amazement. That the same bolt should separate over the heads of two of our fellow creatures … and instantly deprive them of life; that the lives of a large household should be preserved … must convince the most unreflecting of the agency and design of an unerring marksman.” Thacher finishes with prayers for the mourning family, especially the orphan children adding his hope that “in this unfriendly world, may the universal Father take them up. May friends and benefactors be raised up to them, who will cultivate their minds … educate them for God, as well as provide for them in the world.” (continued on the next page)

Julia Ann Shorey, Boston Female Asylum, Boston, Massachusetts, 1806 (cont.) So we have three children, suddenly orphans, with few prospects in the world. Reverend William Bentley, a noted diarist and chronicler of Salem history, picks up their story from here. On 4 August 1803, he is called upon to baptize Julia and her brother Nehemiah, an event recorded in his own diary, as well as in the vital records of Salem. He notes in his diary that “the eldest son is to go with Mr. Shorey’s Brother to Berwick & the Daughter in the charge of 3 charitable women in Boston. The youngest at the breast is not yet provided for except by relations.” With the family broken apart and her siblings dispersed, Julia Ann Shorey, age four, found herself in the care of, in Bentley’s words, those three charitable women of Boston. These turn out to be the extraordinary ladies of the Boston Female Asylum. The seeds for the Boston Female Asylum were sown in the December 2, 1799 issue of J. Russell’s Gazette, Commercial and Political, a Boston newspaper. A correspondent signing herself “A Mother” wrote to express her desire that the ladies of Boston “follow the philanthropic example” of the women of Baltimore who, in the Fall of 1798, had formed the Female Humane Association, an organization of women helping other women. Originally formed to provide direct financial aid to destitute women, by 1800, the women of Baltimore had amassed sufficient funds to establish a charity school and expand their aid to young girls. The women of Boston were quick to approve “Mother’s” idea; a week later, the Gazette ran a letter signed “A,” pledging to subscribe as much yearly as shall be judged necessary by any number of ladies who shall meet and form themselves into a society, for the purpose of relieving the distresses of females. So it was that in September of 1800, the first meeting of the Boston Female Asylum was held with the aim of establishing a Society to assist “female orphan children from 3 to 10 years of age.” Hannah Stillman, the wife of Boston minister Samuel Stillman was named “first directress” and Susannah Draper became the first governess of the Asylum, charged with the direct care of the girls. Membership at three dollars per year was limited to women, although donations from gentlemen were “gratefully received … and entered with peculiar pleasure on the list of its Benefactors.” By 1801, the annual subscription to the Asylum was some $900 a year, with an additional $620 in donations. Among the earliest subscribers, we find the names of “Mrs. Adams (lady of the President of the U.S.) and Mrs. Adams, lady of His Excellency S. Adams (the Governor of Massachusetts), as well as the names of some three hundred wives and daughters of prominent merchants, ministers, and politicians.” The Asylum was incorporated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on 26 February 1803 and by that year, according to An Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State, of the Boston Female Asylum, “… already have 31 poor, destitute children been received into it; 6 of whom have been placed in good families, till they shall arrive at the age of 18 years; 25 are now in the Asylum, under the immediate care of Mrs. Ann Baker, the present Governess.” The Account goes on to note that “applications for the admission of Children are frequent, but the Managers can admit no more than their annual Income will enable them to support.” Although not ideal, life at the Boston Female Asylum seems to have been a good and stable one for the girls in its charge. Among the rules and regulations, we find the requirement that all children attend public worship with their governess every Sunday and in the meantime read the Bible and other religious works. The governess was charged with teaching the girls to “spell, read, and to work in plain Sewing, Knitting and Marking; and those who are old enough, shall mend their own Clothes, and assist … in the domestic business of the family.” At a certain age, girls were “placed out in virtuous families, ‘until the age of eighteen years, or marriage within that age,’ except such, as, from infirmity, may be taught some other business.” (continued on the next page)

Julia Ann Shorey, Boston Female Asylum, Boston, Massachusetts, 1806 (cont.) Here, we pick up Julia’s story again. The records of the Boston Female Asylum, held by the Joseph P. Healey Library at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and transcribed by Ann Lainhart, indicate that Julia’s entry into the Asylum was a somewhat controversial one, despite her tragic circumstances. Among the rules of the Asylum’s constitution was that girls from outside of Boston were eligible for admittance only if presented by twenty current subscribers [annual dues-paying members of the Asylum]. Given the extreme circumstances of Julia’s case, apparently some members of the Asylum had “gone rogue” in 1803 and brought Julia into the shelter. At the January 1804 meeting of the Asylum, Mrs. Gray and Mrs. Hay, “the ladies who had for the past half-year benevolently sheltered in the Asylum the child from Lynn,” were notified to “remove her as soon as possible, her stay, being determined a contradiction of the IX article of their Constitution.” At the next monthly meeting, Mrs. Gray argued that Julia’s admission be judged under a different section of the constitution, the one that granted the directors authority and discretion to “take into the Asylum such [other] Female Orphan Children as they may judge suitable objects of their charity.” The matter was not immediately settled in Julia’s favor as the board voted to contact Reverend Thomas Thacher, who had eulogized the Shoreys, to see what care the town of Lynn or others could provide her. In May, having received no response from Thacher, the ladies of the Asylum were sufficiently moved by Julia’s plight that a unanimous vote to make her a “true and lawful subject” of the Asylum was taken. Sometime later, the Asylum received news that Miles Shorey’s estate was insolvent and that his children were not to receive “one cent out of the estate, and therefore, they must be brought up by charity; or by relations who are not very well able to maintain them.” So Julia (recorded as Juliana in the Asylum’s records) was taken into the Asylum and placed in the family of Henry and Anna Hill. Her life, unfortunately, was not destined to be a long one; by the spring of 1808, Julia was in poor health and had been “removed into the country as the last expedient for recovering her from a dangerous, and uncommon disorder.” She died in August of that year. Echoing the gratitude expressed by Julia on her sampler, in September, her grandmother Abigail Breed wrote a touching note to the directors offering her sincere thanks for the care they had taken of her “dear child” and asking that “the best of Heavens blessings … be granted to each one of you, and your families.” This is the only known sampler made at the Boston Female Asylum. Interestingly, the quality of the needlework is quite high; the lettering is very carefully formed and indeed the reverse of the sampler is as neatly finished as the front. The teacher employed at the Asylum was obviously very knowledgeable. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and it has been conservation mounted into a maple and cherry frame. Sampler size: 16½” x 12”

Frame size: 21½” x 16”

Price: $18,000.

Susan A. Hewlett, Cow Neck, Long Island, New York, 1834 Cow Neck was a small coastal village on the North Shore of Long Island; the first white settlers established themselves there in 1684, sharing the land with the Matinecock Indians; it was later incorporated into the town of Port Washington. The maker of this sampler, Susan Amelia Hewlett, was born there on February 2, 1820, one of fourteen children born to a farmer, George Mott Hewlett (1781-1870), and his wife Elizabeth Hewlett. They had married at St. George’s Church in Hempstead, south of Cow Neck, in 1806. The Hewlett family history in the Cow Neck Peninsula area dated back generations. A History of Long Island From its Earliest Settlement to The Present Time, vol III, by William S. Pelletreau (1903), states that they were descendants of George and Mary (Bayles) Hewlett who settled in Hempstead shortly after 1664. (continued on the next page)

Susan A. Hewlett, Cow Neck, Long Island, New York, 1834 (cont.) Susan made this handsome sampler in 1834 and stitched “Cow Neck” on it; this is the only sampler we know of that names this town. She included a strong assortment of motifs, featuring a basket of flowers, trees, birds, a deer, a dog, a rabbit and many butterflies. In 1839, Susan married Gideon Nichols Searing (1809-1878) in New York City. They lived in Hempstead where George was a prominent physician and became the parents of eight children born between 1840 and 1852. Susan died in 1852, four days after the birth of a daughter, Susan Hewlett Searing. The sampler remained in the family for many further generations. Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a figured cherry beveled frame. Sampler size: 16½” x 17½”

Frame size: 19½” x 20½”

Price: $7800.

Darning Sampler, Northern Europe, 1828 One of the most practical skills at which a needleworker could become proficient was darning, allowing her to extend the life of valuable household textiles and clothing. This darning sampler is a splendid demonstration of the stitcher’s skill. Eight different darns, varying in color and pattern, surround four darns of assorted patterns framing the maker’s neatly worked initials, B. F., and the date 1828. Note the care that was taken as to the neatness of the zigzag sides of where our maker began and ended each woven thread. Worked in silk on linen the sampler is in very good condition with some secured loss to the lower left corner darn. It has been conservation mounted into a black painted, molded frame.

Sampler size: 9½” x 8¾”

Frame size: 11¾” x 11”

Price: $950.

Juliann Wilson, Nottingham West, New Hampshire, 1818 Juliann Wilson’s sampler evidences a direct and appealing folky nature. The free-form pictorial scene centers on a little tree with two fat birds flanked by a pair of unusual and whimsical flower pots on legs, with handles akimbo. Small hearts and little birds embellish space between the hillocks with stylized pine trees anchoring at right and left. Large-blossomed flowers decorate the border and fill the flower pots. Along with alphabets is the inscription, “Juliann Wilson Born Feb. 3rd. 1807 & Wrought this 1818.” Juliann, age 11, was a nicely accomplished needleworker.

The Wilson family lived in Nottingham West, a small town south of Manchester, at the Massachusetts border. In 1830 the town changed its name to Hudson and it is the History of Hudson, N. H., by Kimball Webster (Manchester, NH, 1913), as well as gravestones in the Blodgett Cemetery in Hudson, that provided specifics about the genealogy of Juliann. She was the daughter of Joseph B. and Phebe (Wyman) Wilson, who married on June 14, 1785. The town history indicates that Joseph was a farmer who also operated a saw and grain mill, long known as Wilson Mills, on Musquash Brook. He was active in civic affairs, serving on committees including those related to the forming of schoolhouses and repairs to be made to the church meetinghouse. Juliann died at age 21 on November 8, 1828 and is buried along with her parents and some of her siblings in the Blodgett Cemetery. The sampler, worked in silk on linen, is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled cherry frame. Sampler size: 17¾” x 16¾”

Frame size: 22” x 21”

Price: $6800.

Susan Hamlin, Westford, Massachusetts, 1818

Inscribed, “Wrought by Susan Hamlin Aged 10 1818’” this large and handsome sampler features alphabets, borders and bands of assorted flowers and an excellent verse advising that education will improve the soul and the mind. A fine satin-stitched color block band forms the bottom of the sampler, anchoring the design nicely. Susan lived in Westford, Massachusetts, a town northwest of Boston and near Chelmsford. She was born on August 29, 1808, the second of seven children of Asiaticus and Susan (Read) Hamlin. History of the Town of Westford in the County of Middlesex, Massachusetts 1659-1883, by Rev. Edwin R. Hodgman (Lowell, Mass, 1883), publishes much about the family and the progenitor in Westford, Eleazer Hamlin (1731-1807), Susan’s grandfather. He and his wife, Lydia (Bonney) Hamlin, had seventeen children and the family remained an important one in the area for many generations. Additional information was provided in a book written by one of their grandsons, Cyrus Hamlin, My Life and Times (Boston and Chicago, 1893), who states that four of the Hamlin sons were named Africanus, Americus, Asiaticus (father of Susan), and Europus. One of Susan’s first cousins, Hannibal Hamlin, became Vice President of the United States under Abraham Lincoln. A copy of this book, as well as a file of research, accompanies this sampler. Our samplermaker, Susan, married Pelatiah Fletcher on May 12, 1830 and they removed to Groton, the town to the immediate northwest. They became the parents of five children and Susan died in 1850. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in very good condition. It has been conservation mounted into its fine, original gold leaf frame. Sampler size: 16¼” x 20”

Frame size: 20¼” x 24”

Price: $5800.

Emily Tinkham, Enfield Shaker Community, Connecticut, 1863 Samplers made within the Shaker communities are extremely rare and we are pleased to be offer this very small, finely worked and well documented gem. The Enfield Shaker community was established in 1793 on donated land outside of Windsor Locks and north of Hartford. At its peak, in 1830, approximately 260 people lived there, divided into five houses, or “families”, on nearly 3000 acres. They were very productive, and became known for commercial enterprises, including the growing and selling of quality seeds, a successful sawmill and a mill for the manufacturing of lead pipes. Adults joined the Shakers, but of course, because of their policy of celibacy children weren’t born within the Shaker Society. They did, however, take in orphans or children whose parents were unable to care for them. These children were raised and educated within this society and grew to adulthood, when they were given the option to sign the covenant and remain a Shaker, or to leave the community and return to the outside world. The decline of the Enfield Shakers began in the latter part of the 19th century. In 1917, the entire community closed its doors and the Shaker property was sold. Seth and Elizabeth Tinkham lived in Windsor Locks, where their daughter Emily was born in 1848. After the death of her mother, Emily was brought to live with the Shakers in 1856. At age 14, in 1863, she made this fine little sampler and on it she documented her birth and when she joined the Shakers, stitching, “I was brought to this Society May 5 1856.” She also advised, “Speak Kindly,” up in the alphabets. Samplermaking was part of the education that young girls received and neat hand stitching clearly remained a part of the art and craft of the Shakers for a very long time. Emily remained with the Shakers until at least 1870 when the census recorded her, age 21, living in the North Family at Enfield; her occupation was listed as “tailoress,” and her sampler attests to her skill in this field. Sometime after that, Emily chose to leave Enfield and she lived in Hartford. She remained single and worked as a clairvoyant, as evidenced in a 1903 Hartford city directory. Emily died in Hartford on September 2, 1926 and is buried in an unmarked grave at the Zion Hill Cemetery. The sampler was in the highly regarded collection of Mary Jaene Edmonds and was published in her book, Samplers & Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850 (Rizzoli, 1991), as figure 73. It was worked in silk on fine linen gauze and backed with its original glazed blue linen, as are the two other known Enfield Shaker samplers. It remains in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a 19th century veneer frame. Sampler size: 6¼” x 5¾” Frame size: 8½” x 8” Price: $9600.

Mary A. Lithgow, Augusta, Maine, 1807 We are delighted to offer this excellent, newly discovered sampler made in Augusta, Maine and dated 1807; it is the earliest known documented sampler from Augusta. The samplermaker was nine-year-old Mary A. Lithgow, the daughter of one of Augusta’s most prominent citizens. Mary’s sampler is interestingly sophisticated in both design and execution, featuring a splendid pictorial register, alphabets and an unusual four-line verse derived from Alexander Pope’s The Iliad of Homer, published circa 1717. A very good border of strawberries on vine provides a strong visual framework while echoing the strawberry plants on the hilly lawn. The sampler is inscribed in the fully-worked tablet just beneath this scene of hillocks, plants, trees, birds and a fine central basket, “Mary A. Lithgow Aged 9 years Augusta 1807.” Importantly, American Samplers, the 1921 book by Bolton and Coe (Massachusetts Society of Colonial Dames of America, 1921) included this sampler in its listings; it was then owned by one of Mary’s descendants. Much has been written about the history of the Lithgow family. Compiling information from the Maine Historical Society and other libraries, we know that Mary’s grandfather, William Lithgow (1712-1798) emigrated as a boy from Scotland. He was well-educated, became a gunsmith by trade and served in the military, rising to command Fort Halifax. He was acknowledged as an authority in the government’s relations with Native Americans of the Penobscot tribe. Lithgow became a substantial landowner, serving as a judge and as the first district attorney of the United States for the State of Maine. He and his wife, Sarah (Noble), had eleven children; one of their sons, Arthur Lithgow (1751-1835), was Mary’s father. Born on December 5, 1797, Mary was the fourth of six children of Arthur and Martha (Bridge) Lithgow. Arthur served as Sheriff of Kennebec County for ten years and, in 1799, commissioned one of the finest houses in Augusta, a 14-room mansion facing the Kennebec River. Its octagonal parlor was hung with now-famous French wallpaper depicting the voyages of Captain James Cook. Mary’s mother, Martha, was noted as a, “noble-hearted, cheerful, excellent woman … remarkable for a shrewdness, energy and intelligence, which she seems to have transmitted to very many of her descendants,” (Genealogy of the John Bridge Family in America, Murray Printing Co., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1924). Given the level of accomplishment and culture that the family enjoyed, it is not surprising that young Mary’s needlework is of such high quality. In 1819 Mary married Charles Devans (1791-1876), a Boston merchant who served as well as the Town Clerk. Their resided in Charlestown and had four children, all named for family members: Charles, Arthur, Mary and Horace. Their son, Charles Devans, became a prominent lawyer with a distinguished military career in the Civil War, as published at length in the Dictionary of American Biography (New York, 1930). Mary died in 1848 and her splendid sampler descended in the family, likely to a niece. Worked in silk on fine linen gauze, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into its original black and gold frame. Sampler size: 15¼” x 12¾”

Frame size: 17¾” x 15¼”

Price: $8400.

Mary Appleton, Ackworth School, Yorkshire, England, circa 1826 The Ackworth School, in Yorkshire, England was founded as a boarding school in 1779 with the purpose of providing an education for Quaker children; both male and female students received a strong academic education. In addition, the girls learned needlework, both plain sewing and finer needlework, and many of the Ackworth school sampler patterns became hallmarks of excellent samplermaking throughout England and the United States. Samplers made by Ackworth students are beautiful stitched and the compositions and aesthetics of their work echo the Quaker sensibility of appealing simplicity. We are delighted to offer this stellar example made by Mary Appleton who was ten years old in 1824 when she became a student at Ackworth. Mary was the daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Gray) Appleton, of Stepney-Causeway, a neighborhood in London, and was born on the 19th day of the 9th month, as recorded in the minutes of the London and Middlesex Quarterly Meeting minutes. The family’s monthly meeting was Ratcliffe and Barking. Archives from the Ackworth School, fine handwritten records, indicate that young Mary was admitted to the school on the 14th day of the 5th month in 1824 and remained there until 16th day of the 4th month of 1828; her older brother Robert had attended Ackworth before her. The Appleton family also resided for a time in Tottenham, north of London, where Jonathan was a farmer and gardener. This excellent sampler, steeped in the Ackworth tradition, features an extract verse that begins with the word, “Blessing.” The oval format was used by Ackworth girls and similar samplers were made from the 1790s through the 1830s. Carol Humphey’s fine book, Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth (Needleprint, 2008), documents some of these. Mary’s sampler was most likely not the first one she made there, as indicated by the letter-perfect precision of her stitching. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is on excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine maple and mahogany frame that was made for it based on the frame of another Ackworth oval extract sampler, shown on page 113 of the Humphrey book. Sampler size: 11½” x 9¾” Frame size: 17” x 15¼” Price: $6800.

Ann Smith, Westtown School, Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1809 Our handsome Westtown School sampler is initialed “AS” and the enrollment records of the school reveal the only student with these initials in attendance in 1809 to be Ann Smith, of Philadelphia. She worked her fine sampler with half geometric medallions and other classic Quaker motifs, initialing and dating it inside a leafy center cartouche. Initials of some of her classmates are listed, as well. The spelling of the school’s name varied widely from its inception in 1799 well into the 1860’s, with “Weston” appearing with frequency. A similar example, signed, “HP Weston School 1800,” is illustrated on page 43 of Margaret Schiffer’s Historical Needlework of Pennsylvania, (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York 1968). Ann was admitted to the school as student #811, and she entered on the 26th day, 4th month of 1809, along with her brother, James B. Smith. She was 13 years old then, having been born 2nd day, 6th month of 1795. Her parents were James and Ann (Ridgway) Smith, members of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Northern District. James was a prominent businessman in Philadelphia in partnership with his brother-in-law, the very wealthy merchant and landowner, Jacob Ridgway. Ann married Joseph Rotch (1790-1839), a young Quaker gentleman from an illustrious family of New Bedford, Massachusetts. A copy of their hand-written marriage certificate from the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of 20th day, 6th month, 1814 accompanies the sampler along with much other information. The Rotches, by John M. Bullard (New Bedford, 1947) publishes a great deal about Ann Smith and her husband, Joseph Rotch, illustrating as well a beautiful portrait of Ann, painted by Thomas Sully. Ann is said to have been, “a most devout Quaker, a most devoted mother and wife, and her serious writings seem almost incompatible with the almost modern hairdo and dress in which she was painted. She does not appear to be half the Quaker that she sounds, but I know she was … [and] No music was allowed in her house …” The couple lived in New Bedford where Joseph was a part owner of 13 whaleships and where he became known for his silk factory, which raised silkworms and produced fine silk cloth, “from cocoon to loom.” They had 7 children between 1815 and 1826 and had a stately mansion built for the family in 1821. Joseph died in 1839 and Ann in 1842. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine, early 19th century mahogany frame with a yellow painted bead. Sampler size: 10¼” x 12¾”

Frame size: 14¼” x 16¾”

Price: $5800.

Julia J. Hitchcock, Desire Dayton, Preceptress, Granville, NY, 1819 Granville, New York is a small town about 60 miles northeast of Albany and directly on the Vermont border; the 1824 Gazetteer of the State of New York, by Horatio Gates Spafford, describes it as a delightful and industrious town with and a population of 3727 and, notably, many schools. It was in Granville that Julia J. Hitchcock was born, on March 25, 1809, the oldest child of Horace and Phebe (Johnson) Hitchcock. Her delightful sampler, completed in September of 1819, includes a wonderful and folky scene of four houses and some windswept trees. She named, “Desire Dayton preceptress” on it and surrounded it with a bold version of the queen’s stitch. The sampler offers an appealing naiveté, charmingly coupled with proof of Julia’s skill in the needle arts, as well as the genealogical history of both student and teacher. Julia’s family descended from Luke Hitchcock (1615 – 1655) who had resided in the Deerfield, Massachusetts area by about 1659, having arrived in America by 1644. The Genealogy of the Hitchcock Family (Amherst, MA, 1894) indicates that Horace Hitchcock was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts and married Phebe in 1807. The family was about to move from Granville, NY, were they then resided, to the West in 1820, when Horace became ill and died. Phebe was left with four children, including an infant. Julia later married Samuel Giles and they became the parents of one child, a son. Julia died in 1883. In regard to Julia’s teacher, Dayton family records compiled in the early 20th century reveal that Desire was born in 1799, so that she was approximately 20 years old when she was teaching. Her parents were Abraham and Desire (Vail) Dayton. Abraham (1766-1825) served in the two militias and later owned a large tannery operation in Granville. Desire died three years after she taught Julia, in 1822. Worked in silk on linen the sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a beveled cherry frame with a maple outer bead. Sampler size: 12½” x 15½”

Frame size: 16” x 19”

Price: $4400.

Susannah Loyd, Hatborough School, Montgomery County, PA, 1804 The small village of Hatborough, 17 miles north of Philadelphia, was established in 1715, and throughout the 18th century came to be populated by Quaker and other families. It seems that the residents of Hatborough must have highly valued their education, as the Union Library Company of Hatborough was founded there in 1755, only the third library to be established in Pennsylvania. Six years earlier, Thomas Lloyd (1698-1781), a prominent Quaker farmer and landowner in the area, headed a contingent of men to receive a grant of land and build a schoolhouse, calling it the Hatborough School. In 1804, Thomas Lloyd’s great granddaughter, Susanna Loyd (the spelling of the surname varied a bit through the generations), worked this (continued on the next page)

Susannah Loyd, Hatborough School, Montgomery Co., PA, 1804 (cont.) sampler while attending this same school. Inscribed, “Hatborough School” at the top and, “Susanna Loyds Work Aged Ten Years In The Year of Lord 1804,” it is the only needlework known to have been made there. While relatively simple, the sampler evidences motifs that were shared by many of the schools established by the Society of Friends in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. In 1812, by Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the school house and its land were sold. A larger “seminary of learning,” the Loller Academy, was to be built a half mile away. Loller Academy functioned until 1848 when it was turned over to the public school system. The tenth of eleven children of Benjamin and Sarah (Child) Loyd, Susanna was born on November 22, 1793. Her birth was recorded at the nearby Horsham Monthly Meeting, where Benjamin was an Elder of the Meeting. The marriage of her parents, in 1775, was recorded by the Abington Monthly Meeting, also in the area. Susanna’s mother died in 1798 and her father in 1819. She seems to have remained single and lived nearby; she died in 1842. The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a cherry frame. Sampler size: 13” x 12”

Frame size: 16½” x 15½”

Price: $2400.

Lucy Esther Bishop, Woodbury, Litchfield Co., Connecticut, 1838 A handsome sampler, this was made by Lucy Esther Bishop of Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut in 1838. A strong palette of colors form the alphabets, diamond-shaped elements, verse, inscription and baskets, all surrounded by a border of trefoil leaves. The initials of Lucy’s instructress, MP, are centered within the stylized flowers and vines of one of the baskets. Born in Woodbury, on August 12, 1825, Lucy Esther Bishop was one of thirteen children of Harley Bishop (1797-1872), a wealthy farmer, and Mary Ann (Moody) Bishop, who married in Woodbury in 1823. The family later removed to New Haven and the History of New Haven County, Connecticut (Rockey, 1892) publishes information about the family. Lucy married James C. Wright and, after his death, James Cardine. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition, with slight loss to two letters. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled maple frame with a cherry outer bead. Sampler size: 17” square

Frame size: 20¼” square

Price: $3300.

Martha Clark and Jane Church, Northampton, Massachusetts, circa 1805 and 1825 It isn’t often that samplers made approximately 20 years apart by a mother and her daughter stay together for almost 200 years. The samplers are each an early effort on the part of their maker and make a visually endearing pair. Martha was born on July 23, 1794, the daughter of Medad and Martha (Warner); the family had ties to Amherst and Sunderland but seems to have lived in Northampton. Corporal Medad Clark served in three stretches during the Revolutionary War, between 1776 and 1782. He was later appointed to positions in Northampton, including that of Hayward (an official in charge of fences and the access or containment of cattle, etc.) and Hogreeve (similarly charged with monitoring hogs). Their daughter, Martha, would most likely have made her sampler at age 10 to 13. She married William Clark, and they had a daughter, Jane, born in 1815. Jane states on her sampler that she was 10 years old which therefore would date her work circa 1825. Jane lived to age 26 and died in Northampton in 1841. Martha, who married again in 1837 after the death of William, died in 1873, also in Northampton. Both samplers feature alphabets and small pictorial motifs, in the classic American sampler tradition. Martha’s is a bit more developed, with a nice strawberry border and rows of linked hearts and diamonds. There are commonalities, family resemblances if we may, such as the same font to the alphabets, the same swallow-tailed bird and the same stylized plant-like motif, lower left on each sampler. While the great majority of samplers were worked at schools, it seems likely that Martha taught needlework to her daughter, Jane, using her own sampler as a template. The samplers descended together and they are being sold now only as a pair. Worked in silk on linen, both remain in excellent condition and have been conservation mounted into molded, black painted frames. Martha’s sampler size: 10¾” x 9¾” Frame size: 12¾” x 11¾” Jane’s sampler size: 8½” x 8¼” Frame size: 10½” x 10¼”

Price for the pair: $4800.

Mary C. Cotton, Springfield, Summit County, Ohio, 1841 Ohio samplers are far rarer than those from states along the eastern seaboard and have been the subject of much research, exhibition and publication over the years. Mary C. Cotton worked this outstanding sampler in Springfield, Summit County, which is south of Cleveland and just outside of Akron. Although very few samplers are known from this part of Ohio, there is an almost identical sampler, made by Jennett A. Reynolds, also dated 1841, in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Jennett and Mary were most likely classmates, and each sampler includes a heart encapsulating the initials S.F.P., which are likely those of their instructress. Mary was born in 1829 on Prince Edward Island, Canada, to Rev. Joseph and Elizabeth (Orchard) Cotton; she was the ninth of their twelve children. The family established a corn mill, though while on the island Joseph became a minister. In 1838, Mary moved with her parents and the younger children to Springfield, Ohio, though they did not stay long; by 1843 they were on their way to Elkhart County, Indiana. Mary married Jesse V. Rutherford, a farmer who later owned a grocery store in South Bend, where Mary finished out her life. She died in 1913, 17 years after her husband who was hit by a horse and buggy in 1896. Miss Cotton’s sampler has remained quite an accomplishment and a document of her family’s time in Ohio. She included several alphabets indicating her knowledge of a variety of stitches, and dividing each with a decorative band. A numerical progression is followed by her inscription, underlined by a band of eyelets in pink and white. She framed her verse and location in a deep blue sawtooth border, which sits at the corner of her fine house and lawn scene with many wonderful motifs. A pair of birds with a fat strawberry perch atop a large house, depicted in profile. An unusual tree was worked next to it, and baskets of flowers, a tree and fence, birds and other classic elements continue along the bottom, creating the same composition as Miss Reynolds’ sampler at The Met. Worked in silk on linen it remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a fine cherry frame. Sampler size: 16” x 18”

Frame size: 20¼” x 22¼”

Price: $18,000.

Susannah Donaha, Schenectady, New York, 1837 This bold and handsome sampler is signed, “Susannah Donaha’s Work age 13 Years Schenectady November 1837,” and features a large three-storied building, verse and alphabets surrounded by a narrow Greek key border. It is part of a group of samplers from Schenectady, which share these notable characteristics. The samplermaker was part of the Donaha / Donohue family from Scotland that settled in Schenectady and intermarried with the Dutch American families in the region. Susannah’s sampler also includes baskets of flowers, birds on branches and a tall pine tree in addition to the house and fence scene. A pair of finely worked geometric motifs anchors the upper corners and adds nicely to the composition of this sampler. The verse used is typical of many used in the period, as it extols the virtue of leading a life of wisdom. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and it has been conservation mounted into a beveled mahogany frame. Sampler size: 17¼” x 15½”

Frame size: 20¼” x 18½”

Price: $7000.

Sarah Lent and Harriot Lent, London, England, 1799 and 1813 Two very interesting samplers, these were made by sisters and, quite fortunately, descended together. Sarah’s is a fine a classic example from the very end of the 18th century, featuring Adam and Eve along with a very good scene of a stately house on a lawn. A gentleman and little boy are on one side and a deer on the other, with birds, squirrels and much foliage providing embellishment. The verse, in keeping with many incorporated by period samplermakers, uses flowers as metaphors for the fleeting nature of time. In 1813, her younger sister Harriot worked a more unusual sampler. While the main pictorial scene depicts a lady and gentleman in a pastoral setting with their flock of sheep and black dog set against cottages and a windmill and under the watchful face of a sun, it is the pair of crowned columns with their accompanying symbols and titles that are extraordinary. They honor the Battle of Vitoria (spelled with a slight variation by young Harriot), which took place on June 21, 1813. The Duke of Wellington, shown in his red military jacket, led the British troops, along with the Portuguese and Spanish in the Peninsular War, against the French in northern Spain. Wellington’s victory is indeed a very unusual subject matter for a schoolgirl to include on her needlework, but this battle clearly had a timely significance. (continued on the next page)

Sarah Lent and Harriot Lent, 1799 and 1813, London, England (cont.) Harriot’s verse, again within the classic sampler tradition, speaks to the duty and love shared by parents and children. Her pictorial scene includes other appealing details such as the crescent moon, circle of stars, little owl, exotic bird, huge butterfly and a little man climbing the ladder to tend to the windmill. Encircled white swans on marsh cattails flank the scene. Both of the Lent girls were younger than average when they worked their samplers but were obviously attending schools that taught them well. Sarah was baptized on February 7, 1790 and Harriot on November 27, 1803; they were daughters of Robert and Sarah Lent of London, residing in Bloomsbury and Marylebone, adjacent neighborhoods. Robert Lent (1760 – 1833) was a beadle, a parish constable of the Anglican Church. His will indicates that the family was then residing in Plumtree Street, Bloomsbury. We have found Harriot’s marriage record from 1829 and, sadly, her death record a year later. The samplers were both worked in silk on linen and they are in very good condition with some slight darkening and weaknesses. They have been conservation mounted and both, remarkably, remain in their fine original frames. Harriot’s sampler size: 17” x 12¾” Frame size: 19¼” x 15” Sarah’s sampler size: 16¾” x 12¾” Frame size: 19” x 15” Price for the pair: $9000.

Eliza Surman, Miniature Sampler, England, 1807 True miniature samplers are delightful to come across and we are pleased to offer this endearing example. It was stitched to its original paper backing on which the maker penned further information: “Eliza Surman finished Nov.r 28th 1807.” We feel certain that the sampler was made in England, as were the great majority of fine miniature samplers. The quotation that Eliza so delicately stitched, “Seek Virtue and of that possest Henceforth to God resign the Rest,” was written by English poet and dramatist, John Gay (1685-1732), as part of a fable entitled The Father and Jupiter, which ends with the lines “Seek Virtue, and, of that possessed, To Providence, resign the rest.” Gay’s couplet was published for many years in almanacs, elocution books, and poetical miscellanies. Worked in silk on linen gauze, this sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a 19th century veneer frame. Sampler size: 3½” square

Frame size: 5” square

Price: $1700.

Miniature Printwork Silk Embroidery, England, circa 1810 In English Domestic Needlework 16601860 (Abbey Fine Arts), author Therle Hughes notes “Later in the [18th] century … others [young ladies] were still more painstakingly reproducing each detail in fine black floss silk on thin sarsenet, even sacrificing their great heritage of color to achieve more exact resemblance to the originals. This was known as print work, the tiny stitches seeking to reproduce the dots of the mezzotint.” This is an excellent little print work embroidery, in which the maker depicted a fine country scene: a house with a person at the front door and a dog frolicking in the foreground, beyond the picket fence. The grassy pasture sweeps back behind the cottage to many trees, birds flying overhead. Worked in silk and ink on silk it remains in excellent condition with minor loss to the outer line border. It is matted and in a period gold frame. Size of the embroidery: 3¼” x 3½”

Frame size: 5¾” x 6”

Price: $1400.

Helen White, Wiscasset, Maine, 1840 The New England Gazetteer of 1839 describes Wiscasset as a village delightfully situated on rising ground, in view of the harbor, with a courthouse, churches, stores and dwelling houses built with taste and many with elegance, adding, “A more beautiful village is rarely seen.” The maker of this praiseworthy sampler, Helen White, was born there in 1828, the daughter of Bartlett and Lucy (Blen) White. The vital records of Wiscasset show the marriage of Bartlett and Lucy on January 25, 1810, and other published historical records of Wiscasset indicate that Bartlett White (1786-1868) owned and operated a brick yard. Brickmaking flourished in this immediate area because of the argillaceous soil and many creeks and river banks. While we don’t know the name of the school that Helen attended, her sampler attests to the fact that she received a fine education in the needle arts. Along with a pair of fine Federal houses, she featured a particularly appealing verse and used the eyelet stitch for the largest alphabet and a narrow horizontal band. Helen inscribed her sampler boldly and repeated some of this information on the third line from the top. Wiscasset records show that Helen died young, at age 26, on December 20, 1854. Her schoolgirl sampler was likely treasured by her family. Worked in silk on linen, it remains in excellent condition, and is now conservation mounted into a tiger maple beveled frame with a cherry bead. Sampler size: 12½” x 17½”

Frame size: 15½” x 20½”

Price: $7200.

Ann S. Sleeper, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1827 The Quaker aesthetic, within the world of early 19th century American schoolgirl samplers, is highly recognizable and Ann S. Sleeper’s sampler presents many of these appealing characteristics: the carefully formed lettering in a clean, blocky font, a simple and balanced composition with few embellishments, the limited color palette and the centered bell-flower drop from the upper border. The Quaker school that Ann attended in 1827 isn’t designated on her sampler; it was certainly one of the many that existed in Philadelphia, administered by the various meetinghouses of the Society of Friends. (continued on the next page)

Ann S. Sleeper, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1827 (cont.) A great deal is known about Ann from the excellent records kept by the Quakers and many various published sources and public records. She was born on Christmas Day, 1816, the fourth child of James and Elizabeth (Worstall) Sleeper. The family belonged to the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Northern District, and those records reveal that the family lived at #24 Elfreth’s Alley. While in the period this was just one of the city’s many small streets, filled with homes, workshops and small stores, it is now quite famously one of Philadelphia’s most important and popular historic sites, acknowledged to be America’s oldest, continuous residential street, established in 1702 and now a National Historic Landmarks District. Mirroring the diversity and inclusiveness of the city of Philadelphia, early Elfreth’s Alley residents were from many different cultures; along with Quakers there were Catholics, Free Blacks and Jews. James Sleeper was a smith in black and white metals and the family bought the Elfreth’s Alley house in 1813, remaining there until 1845. That specific home is now one of two buildings that form the Elfreth’s Alley Museum and, therefore, is open to the public (all other houses are privately owned). In 1845, Ann and her mother and a sister removed to Wilmington, Delaware. She married a Mr. Hampton, and in 1846, Wilmington Monthly Meeting records indicate that she was “disowned” for marrying a non-Quaker. Sadly, she died two years later and is buried at the Wilmington Monthly Meeting, with a notation that she was not a member. Of additional interest within the Sleeper family history is the fact that one of Ann’s uncles was the noted Friends minister and greatly important folk artist, Edward Hicks, who was married to the sister of Ann’s mother. The year that Ann worked this sampler also marked the time that Hicks was developing and refining his renowned Peaceable Kingdom paintings (The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks by Carolyn J. Weekly, Colonial Williamsburg and Harry N. Abrams, 1999). Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a black molded and painted frame. Sampler size: 10½” x 10¾”

Frame size: 12¾” x 13”

Price: $4800.

Colonial Spanish Embroidery, Colegio de la Eseñanza, Bogotá, Columbia, circa 1820

Colegio de la Enseñanza opened in Bogota, Columbia in 1783, though was first conceived in 1751 by Maria Gertrudis Clemency Caicedo y Velez, with the help of her husband. The mission of this school, a Catholic girls’ school, was to recognize the need for education of young girls, and which of course would have included instruction in the needle arts. Maria died in 1779, without seeing the school fully instituted. When opened in 1783, it was the first school in Bogota to educate females from the families of patriots, who were taught by Augustine Nuns. Though the school has changed and moved locations, it is still in existence today, educating girls and boys alike. This extraordinary silk embroidered needlework picture was worked at this school in the first quarter of the 19th century. Beautifully composed and realized with a great number of stylized pictorial elements, the central scene consists of a farm house with a pink roof, a horse of equal size and a dog not much smaller, all lining the banks of an ivory lake which is filled with one large fish. Chenille thread was used to create the variated green grass, as well as the large-leafed tree. The scene is framed in a needleworked tape with flowers worked in a metallic thread in each corner. Below this, with great attention to each scripted letter, the anonymous needleworker stitched “Colegio de la Enseñanza.” A wide framework of boldly colored motifs surrounds the landscape: a snake, deer and birds each on their own tuft of land, reflecting their individual habitation, flowers and fronds, grapes and butterflies in intense reds and greens, as well as spangles and glass beads, which also create a basket of leafy flowers. These wonderful images co-mingle in the surround, and a stuffed Sacred Heart sits central atop. The Sacred Heart was a devotion observed by the Catholic Church, quite common in Colonial Spanish countries. At the outer edge of the piece, a very lovely woven tape in turquoise, red, black and cream finishes the picture perfectly. Worked in silk, chenille, metallic thread, glass and metallic beads and sequins on silk, and with some elements stuffed or padded, this embroidery remains in remarkably excellent condition. It is now set within a period gold frame and an eglomisé mat has been made for it. Sight size: 15½” x 17¾”

Frame size: 21¼” x 23½”

Price: $8000.

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. German Society, 1991.

. Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania

Humphrey, Carol. Estates Limited, 2006.

. Needleprint & Ackworth School .

Ivey, Kimberly Smith. Colonial Williamsburg and Curious Works Press, 1997.

. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978.

Krueger, Glee F.

. 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 Scribnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 Mary Eliza Jenkins, pages 12-13)

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 â&#x20AC;&#x153;conservation mountingâ&#x20AC;? 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 Mary C. Cotton, page 31)

(detail of Wyker Family sampler, page 17)

(detail of sampler by Elizabeth Pearson, page 11)