This is an excellent Quaker motif and alphabet, signed, "Mary Lippincott Daughter of William Lippincott and Hepzibah his Wife was born October 7th 1812 And wrought this work In the Ninth year of Her Age AD 1821." In the lower corners (inside the border) Mary stitched the initials of her parents inside little hearts - WL and HL.

Arranged in a balanced composition, the motifs include many of those taught at Friends schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the first decades of the 19th century.

As she stitched on her sampler, Mary was born on October 7, 1812. She was the 9th of 13 children of William and Hepzibah (Gaskill) Lippincott of Burlington County, New Jersey. The Lippincott family is one of the earliest and most highly regarded Quaker families in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey area. Richard Lippincott (1613-1683) arrived in Massachusetts in 1639, and by 1666 the family was living in New Jersey. Lippincott Five Generations of the Descendants of Richard and Abigail Lippincott by Judith T. Olsen (The Gloucester County Historical Society, 1982), published much about the family. Mary's grandfather was Arney Caleb Lippincott (1742-1806), a particularly prominent Burlington County Quaker. A substantial file of research accompanies this sampler.

Mary married Thomas W. Ivins in 1834 and they had three children. Thomas served as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly. Mary died in 1885 and is buried along with family members in Jacobstown Methodist Episcopal Cemetery in Burlington County.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in its fine, original bird's-eye maple frame.

A finely worked and delicate sampler, this is signed, “Nancy E. Kingsbury Born July th 10 1816 Aged 12 years.” Nancy featured alphabets, a numerical progression, a dear little house and an interesting border. The photo of the back of the sampler (see below), taken prior to conservation mounting, indicates that the pale colors are very close to the sampler as it was originally made. 

The Kingsbury family in America began with Joseph Kingsbury (1605-1676) who was born in Suffolk, England and immigrated to Massachusetts with his wife, Millicent, by 1635, when their first child was born. 

Generations later, Nancy was born, as she stitched on her sampler, on July 10, 1816. She was the daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Williams) Kingsbury. Her grandfather, Jeremiah Kingsbury (1735-1816) was a captain in the Revolutionary War, commanding a company out of Worcester County, Massachusetts. 

Jonathan and Sarah moved around and it is difficult to pin down precisely where they lived when Nancy made her sampler. They lived in Oxford, Massachusetts for a time and History of the Town of Oxford, Massachusetts with Genealogies and Notes on Persons and Estates by George F. Daniels (Oxford, Massachusetts, 1892), indicates that Jonathan went to New York State and about 1816 removed to Peru, Ohio. 

Nancy married Harvey Moffitt (1816-1900) in 1835 in Huron, Ohio and they had five children. They later removed to Michigan where Nancy died in 1886. 

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in very good condition with a few lost stitches. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame.

photo of reverse

Ohio samplers have been the subject of scholarly research for many years. Far fewer samplers were made in Ohio relative to those made up and down the east coast. Most of the known Ohio samplers were made in the southern and eastern part of the state, very few samplers are known to have been made in northwestern Ohio. Sue Studebaker, in her book, Ohio Is My Dwelling Place Schoolgirl Embroideries 1800-1850 (Ohio University Press, 2002), documented no samplers from Shelby County, indeed only one from that entire region, a sampler made in Fort Meigs, Wood County, in 1840. 

This excellent sampler is inscribed, “Matilda Rosianna Hoover’s Work. 1837. / Sidney. Shelbey County. Ohio.” Sidney is about 100 miles south of Toledo, on the Miami River. It was first populated by white families in 1819; in 1840 the town had a population of only 713 people. A canal that was completed in 1837 connected Sidney to the Miami and Erie Canal, providing access to markets across the country and the population grew throughout the middle of the 19th century.  

Matilda’s skill in the needle arts was considerable. Her sampler features a large, lattice-patterned, two handled basket filled with realistically depicted flowers; the basket sits on a narrow, shaded platform, with a garland above it. Deep blue sawtooth borders surround it with a floral border and another sawtooth border at the top and bottom.  

Born in 1818 in Pennsylvania, Matilda was living in Sidney by 1837 when she made this sampler. On September 23 of the same year, she married William A. Cartwright (1812-1874), a millwright who owned and operated a large and successful flour mill in Sidney. They had two children and Matilda died in 1844. She is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Sidney. When William died, the obituary in Sidney Weekly Journal stated that he was, “an old and worthy citizen of Sidney.”

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

This praiseworthy sampler offers excellent coloration and a particularly delightful pictorial scene along the bottom. The house is a beautiful salmon-pink color and a bright, light blue was used with excellent effect for the fine sawtooth border, the large flower vase and, along with pink, the woven basket at the lower right. Interestingly, the young lady next to the house is positioned next to a trade sign. On the other side of the house there are three spindly trees, a large owl, a small child and a checkerboard basket. 

Inside a lovely surround of flowers on an undulating, leafy vine, the sampler is signed, “Martha H. Leonard born Warwick Jan 21st Aged Eleven years.” The verse below that reads, “For kindness in teaching me while here below / May the Lord who rewards the just when they rise / Support us while here with all needful supplies.” 

Warwick is a small town in central Massachusetts at the New Hampshire border. Martha Holbrook Leonard was born there, as she stitched on her sampler, on January 21, 1800. She was the daughter of Nathan and Martha (Stearns) Leonard, who were married there in 1797. The Leonard ancestry traces back to the family’s arrival in Massachusetts in the mid-17th century. Photocopies from several published sources accompany the sampler. 

In 1822, Martha married Joshua Townsend Sanger (1798-1871) and they had three children. She died in 1847 and is buried at Warwick Cemetery along with many family members. 

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

We are pleased to offer this excellent sampler which presents a beautiful large basket of flowers and fruit. It was made by Amy H. Holcombe, the daughter of a wealthy farmer and merchant from Hunterdon County, New Jersey. The lustrous low pale-blue footed bowl with its serrated edge holds flowers, leaves and vines  of trailing strawberries and is surrounded by an outstanding border of shimmering bunches of silvery grapes on a leafy vine. A pair of small fruit baskets decorate the upper corners. Overall, the effect is outstanding. 

The sampler is published in A Sampling of Hunterdon County Needlework: the motifs, the makers & their stories by Dan & Marty Campanelli (Hunterdon County Historical Society, Flemington, NJ, 2013), on page 91. A great deal of genealogy is included and the Campanellis describe this as a most charming needlework. 

Amy Holcombe included in her inscription the initials of her parents, Solomon and Catherine (Barber) Holcombe. The Holcomb(e) Genealogy A Genealogy, History and Directory by Jesse Seaver (American Historical -Genealogical Society, Philadelphia, PA, 1925) provides much family history and photocopies are included in the file that accompanies the sampler. The family stems from John Holcombe, a Quaker who settled near New Hope, Bucks County, Pennsylvania and then resided across the river in New Jersey, by 1720. Mt. Airy is a small town north of Lambertville and was the home of the Holcombe family for generations. Amy was born in 1821, the fourth of the Holcombe’s ten children. At age twenty she married a miller and farmer, Bloomfield Blackwell, also of Mt. Airy. In 1860 Bloomfield co-founded the Lambertville and Rocky Hill Turnpike Company, in partnership with Amy’s older brother, Alexander Holcombe. Amy and Bloomfield became the parents of three children. She died in 1902 and is buried in the Second English Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Amwell. 

Worked in silk and linen on linen, it is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a 19th century gold leaf frame. 

This winning little sampler distinguishes itself in several ways: quality of needlework, composition, small size, and rich coloration. Central to its imagery is an endearing songbird with a spotted tail perched on a branch and centered in an octagonal medallion, flanked by delightful flower baskets. The verse is a stanza from the Collection of Hymns by Rev. John Wesley (1703-1791), a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford.

Interestingly, we know of a strikingly similar sampler, made by Sarah Bycroft in 1799, that is thought to show the influence of Quaker sampler design in the bird within the octagonal enclosure. That samplermaker lived in Weston, Lincolnshire, England.  

All of the lettering and inscriptions were carefully spaced to achieve balance; note that the samplermaker abbreviated her first name to bring this about. 

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition, conservation mounted into its fine, original frame.

This outstanding Connecticut sampler is signed, "Maryette Harris wrought this in the 12th year of her age, Middletown, July 1826" and features a very large solidly stitched oval scene of a fine Federal house along with a smaller one, set on a lawn with curving fences, with flowering plants, fruit and leafy trees and a beautiful pale blue sky that finished the scene. A narrow chain-stitched border surrounds the oval and four flower bouquets in the corner area echoing the flowers inside the scene. 

Two tightly stitched aphorisms were carefully worked, “Sincerity and truth form the basis of every virtue,” and, “Count that day lost whose low descending sun Views from thy hand no worthy action done.” Eight lines entitled, “Religion,” are set vertically, which may have been the only way the samplermaker found to fit them into her composition. 

The sampler is part of a small, important group of samplers made in Middletown that share characteristics. Only a few of these samplermakers set their pictorial scenes in an oval and we find this composition adds significantly to the aesthetic appeal. 

Maryette Harris was born on May 4, 1815, the daughter of Capt. William Harris (1782-1873) and Mary (Bidwell) Harris (1785-1836). Her maternal grandfather, Ashbel Bidwell, served in the Revolutionary War, 5th Connecticut Regiment. The Harris family ancestry in Connecticut began with Damiel Harris (c.1612-1701) who was born in England and emigrated to Connecticut, becoming an original Middletown proprietor in 1670. 

Maryette married Sylvester Deering Crowell (1816-1896) in 1827 and they remained in the area where they had seven children. She died in 1900 at age 84 and is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery with many family members. 

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

photo of Maryette, circa 1870

This is a beautifully made English sampler that features an unusual and highly appealing scene of a crowned angel with several winged cherub heads floating nearby. Billowing clouds, a sun and a crescent moon, both of these animated with faces, and several stars complete the upper region while a layered green lawn with plants, potted flowers and baskets of fruit with backward looking birds perched on top, ground the earthly portion. The angel was stitched with particular detail, including her red and white sash and articulated hands. She, and all of the cherubs, have full heads of stitched curly black hair.  

These whimsical pictorial elements contrast nicely with the serious religious verse, and a tightly worked border of strawberries frames it all nicely. 

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine, gold leaf frame.

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. Overall, this sampler is very appealing. 

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. The Hamlin Family A Genealogy of James Hamlin by Hon. H. Franklin Andrews (Exira Iowa, 1902) publishes much about the family and the progenitor, James Hamlin (1636-1718).

Additional information is provided in a book written by a family member, Cyrus Hamlin, My Life and Times (Boston and Chicago, 1893). Four of the Hamlin sons were named Africanus, Americus, Asiaticus (father of Susan), and Europus, after Roman heroes. One of Susan’s first cousins, Hannibal Hamlin, became Vice President of the United States under Abraham Lincoln for his first term (1861-1865). A copy of this book, as well 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. He was a farmer, selectman and Representative to the State Legislature. They became the parents of five children and Susan died in 1850. 

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

This is an endearing little example of one of the many marking samplers made by young schoolgirls in the first decades of the 19th century. After stitching three carefully worked alphabets and a numerical progression, the samplermaker signed her work, “Sarah L. Gross born February th 23, 1808 Aged 8 1816.” A sprig of chain-stitched blossoms and leaves on vine further decorate the sampler and it is all surrounded by a little satin stitched sawtooth border.

Sarah L. Gross was the daughter of Peakes and Sarah (Loring Whiting) Gross. They were married in Scituate and by 1816 were living in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. Sarah married Levi Corey in 1830, and, after his death, married Charles Butterick. This information comes from History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts by Ezra Stearns (Published by the Town, 1887). 

Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a mid 19th century beveled bird's eye maple frame with a gilt liner.