Mary How, school of Fanny Dow,
Methuen, Massachusetts,
1816

Sampler size:
16¾" x 21¼"

Price: $

Enlarged and Printer Version

The unusually informative inscription along the bottom of this large sampler reads, "Mary How was born March 18th 1804 and in the summer of 1816, I worked this sampler while under the tuition of Miss Fanny Dow 18th of August 1816." This instructress is not one previously recorded by scholars in this field but was, quite clearly, a teacher of considerable talent.

It is a particularly pleasing sampler, designed in a horizontal format which was just becoming popular following decades of vertical or square shapes dominating sampler design. Elaborate needlework forms the borders and showcases the maker's accomplishments. These fanciful flower blossoms, sprigs of berries, delicate side borders, and buds and the leaves punctuated by surrounds of French knots along the lower border offer an interesting combination of sophistication and lively naiveté. Notable as well is the drawnwork finished in pale blue silk at the outer edges of the sampler.

It seems that the samplermaker's initial intent was to feature only the boldly worked alphabets and the popular verse which begins with "Jesus permit they gracious name to stand / As the first efforts of an infant hand." Additional space on either side of the verse allowed for more needlework, and Mary filled that as well. An unusual cartouche surrounds the aphorism, "The Lord is good and his tender mercies are all over his works," and Mary recorded specifics regarding the ages and births of family members on the other side.

Mary's father was Joseph How (1760-1829) whose activities in the Revolutionary War are described in the Howe Genealogies by Daniel Wait Howe, published in 1929. He served in the Battle of Saratoga and was one of the guards of the Hessian prisoners at Cambridge. After settling onto the family homestead, he became a farmer who was prominent in town affairs. Following the death of his first wife and mother of his eldest daughter, Jemima, he married Lydia Easton of nearby Haverhill. The ages of Joseph and Lydia are recorded on this sampler, "J & L How ad (sic) 56 & 57 in 1816," as the first line of the family information, followed by the births of Jemima, Christopher, Frederic, Phineas, Joseph and, lastly, Mary in 1804 . In 1843 she married Capt. Jesse Smith of Haverhill, as his second wife. Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a bird's eye maple frame.

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