Chloe W. Waite, Hubbardston, Massachusetts, 1816
Price: $4800, Sampler size: 13½" x 9¼"

This praiseworthy sampler was made by 11-year-old Chloe Wright Waite who lived in the Worcester County town of Hubbardston, Massachusetts. Born in 1804 to lawyer, town clerk and justice-of-the-peace, Jacob Waite and his wife Ruth (Wright) Waite, Chloe was one of seven children. The Waite family in America began with Captain John Waite (1618-1693) and Chloe was his great-great-great-granddaughter. John Waite was a prominent early settler and public leader of the town of Malden, one of the most respected citizens of this area.

Chloe's schoolgirl sampler evidences skill and great charm, with alphabets and a detailed scene of a large double-chimney brick house flanked by trees and flowers and a wrought-iron fence. A shimmering blue arch tops the scene and implies the sky, with a fine diamond shaped border of eyelet stitches above it. The sampler is surrounded by a border of buds and leaves on four sides.

In 1824, Chloe married a farmer, Israel Davis, Jr. (1803-1872) also of Hubbardston. According to the published History of the Town of Hubbardston, they became the parents of three children, Harriet, Sarah and John. Chloe died in 1842. Israel remarried in 1848 and died in 1872. The sampler is accompanied by a great deal of research.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mid 19th period frame with original paint decoration.