A large and handsome sampler with various alphabets and a numerical progression, this was likely the first sampler made by Louisa Ellis, age 9. She included the fact that she lived in Hull and we were able to research her family accordingly. John and Sarah Ellis had six children, Louisa was the youngest, born in 1840. John was a master carpenter, according to census records of Hull, which is a port city, located at the confluence of River Hull and the Humber estuary. Louisa remained single and lived with her family. She died at age 35 in 1874. 

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

An endearing marking sampler with a row of interesting motifs along the bottom, this is signed, “Harriet Burr Torringford Age 11 1814.” Harriet lived in this interesting, historic neighborhood which is part of Torrington, located in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Inhabitants of the eastern side of Torrington found the swamp that separated them from much of the town, particularly the churches,  to be problematic and they petitioned the Town Assembly to create a separate entity - thus Torringford was formed in 1763. The Burr family was among the list of Torringford settlers prior to 1769. 

A General History of the Burr Family with a Genealogical Record from 1193 to 1891 by Charles Burr Todd (New York, 1891), provides detailed information beginning with Benjamin Burr, one of the original settlers in Hartford, Connecticut in 1635. Harriet was born on January 13, 1803, the daughter of Reuben and Martha (Wilson) Burr, who indeed lived in Torringford. In 1831, Harriet married Lurandus Beach (1803-1883), and they lived in Lawrence, Massachusetts where Lurandus became a prominent soap manufacturer. According to History of Lawrence, Massachusetts with Portraits and Biographical Sketches (Hammon Reed, 1880), the soap company enjoyed a world-wide reputation for excellence; it was continued by their son, Lurandus, Jr.  Harriet died in 1876. 

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in an early 20th century molded frame. A photo of the reverse of the sampler indicates that it retains virtually all of its original color. 
 

photo of reverse

Welsh samplers are highly regarded for their strong, bright palette and recognizable motifs – large pots of flowers, many birds, Adam & Eve under the apple tree with serpent winding up the trunk, and depictions of churches. These samplers are often large and were made well into the late 19th century. We are pleased to offer this excellent example.

We can’t be certain of the specific identity of Jane Beynon as that surname is a common Welsh family name and there are many girls with that name recorded in the 1851 Wales Census.

The sampler was worked in wool on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in its fine, original maple frame with a gilt liner. 

As part of their needlework training, one of the most practical skills at which a girl could become proficient was darning, allowing her to extend the life of costly household textiles and clothing. To teach this skill, instructresses cut away square holes in the ground fabric of samplers and required students to reproduce, via needle weaving, particular patterns to mend the area. Darning samplers exhibit both refined techniques and excellent graphic qualities.

This fine darning sampler is initialed HMB and HH, likely those of the maker and her teacher. The date, 1824, worked in tiny digits, appears in the four inner corners of the center square which is darned back into the linen using a mending technique. Notably, very fine eyelet stitches were used for the initials and the crown. And, quite significantly, the back of the sampler is as carefully finished as the front. 

The sampler remains unframed at this point, as it has been throughout its 198 years. It is in excellent condition; it  could be mounted and framed, if so desired.

photo of reverse 

A charming sampler with a house and many motifs in the lower register and alphabets and a numerical progression filling the upper half, this was made by Eliza C. Cook, age 11 in 1840. Eliza was the daughter of Franklin and Mary (Wilder) Cook, born in Newfane, Vermont on August 4, 1828. Her middle name was likely Chamberlain, the surname of her maternal grandmother. 

Eliza’s father died a year after she was born, and her mother remarried to William Lovering in 1834. By 1840 the family was living in Gill, Massachusetts, a town about 30 miles from Newfane. In 1855, Eliza married Rev. Robert Dexter Miller (1824-1909), as his second wife. Published information about Rev. Miller describes his notable education at Amherst College, and distinguished career. They had six children. Eliza died in 1908 in Malden, Massachusetts.

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

This is a particularly handsome English sampler with a pair of excellent four-story buildings, a depiction of the Spies of Canaan and many fine motifs, from large to miniature. The buildings are unusually tall and have detailed mullions and doorways, as well as vines growing up the sides. The tiny motifs, many of which are nestled into the ends of the rows of alphabets and numbers, include dogs, hearts, baskets and birds. The religious verse is one that was used by many samplermakers. 

Genealogical research indicates that the maker was most likely the Elisabeth Woolston born 1821 to John and Elisabeth (Cooper) Woolston. John was a Baptist minister, and the family was living in Northamptonshire and then Bedfordshire. In 1842, Elisabeth married Enos Ruff, a carpenter. They had five children and Elisabeth died in 1905.

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

This is a handsome marking sampler made by Eliza Jerusha Welles of Hebron, a town about 25 miles southeast of Hartford, Connecticut. She was born November 8, 1813, to a farmer, James and Nancy (Caulkins) Welles who were married in Hebron. The Welles family began with Thomas Welles who was born in Worcestershire, England in 1694. After emigrating, he became a patentee of a tract of over 60,000 acres of land, from Albany to Lake George. Eliza was his great-great-granddaughter. 

In 1836, Eliza married John Mirick Way (1809-1894) and they had eight children. John was engaged in mercantile business and bookkeeping and while the family lived in Connecticut, he worked in Savannah, Georgia, New York City and then Hartford, Connecticut. Eliza died in 1891 and is buried in Gilead Cemetery in Hebron. 

Much of this information came from Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation by William Richard Cutter, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, (1911).

Worked in silk on linen and in excellent condition, with a few lost stiches. It is currently unframed and priced as such; we can conservation mount and frame it if a buyer would like to have that done. 

photo of reverse

A beautifully made sampler with a careful composition and highly appealing poem, this is signed (using in part the long, archaic form of the letter “s”) Elizabeth Veness November 22 1796.” The stitching is very fine throughout; the lettering, especially, is very small and beautifully worked. 

The author of this poem is Robert Dodsley (1703-1764), an English bookseller, publisher, poet, playwright, and writer. These lines were published in 1735, as part of Beauty: or The Art of Charming, A Poem and address the “comeliness of words and deeds.” 

The sampler was worked in silk on wool and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame.

This is a neatly worked alphabet and Family Record sampler made in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, which is located in Southern New Hampshire, close to the Vermont border. The sampler is unsigned but is accompanied by an early family note (see below) indicating that, “This sampler was wrought by my mother Caroline E. Stoddard Martin.”

Caroline was the third child of Eleazer and Sally (Davis) Stoddard, who were married in 181 in Chesterfield; they likely lived just north of town where Stoddard Road still exists today. Caroline was born on May 24, 1825 and we can assume that she was approximately ten years old when she worked this sampler. In 1846, Caroline married a widower, Dr. Oscar Martin, a physician and merchant from Brattleboro, Vermont and later, Hinsdale, New Hampshire. History of Chesterfield, Cheshire County, New Hampshire by Oran E. Randall (Brattleboro, VT, 1882) notes that Dr. Martin ultimately “relinquished practice and is engaged in the manufacture of his celebrated proprietary medicines, “Dr. Martin’s Great Pain Cure of the Age'' and “Vegetable Elixir.”  Caroline and Oscar became the parents of at least two children, and the sampler descended to their daughter, Susan (Martin) Robertson, who wrote the note that accompanies the sampler.

Worked in dark blue silk on linen, it is in excellent condition, and has now been conservation mounted into a late 19th century veneer frame.

family note that accompanies sampler

A small gem of a sampler, this features many tightly worked motifs centered on a basket of flowers sitting on a stepped lawn, and a delightful fruit tree. Tiny dogs, many birds, peacocks, baskets of fruit and potted flowers fill the composition. 

The unusual verse advises charity towards those in need: "Blessed is he that wisely doth / The poor man's case consider / For when the time of trouble is / The Lord will him deliver.” The source is The Scottish Psalter of 1650. We turned to antiquesamplers.org, highly recommended for all information about historic Scottish samplers, to learn more about the Scottish Psalter.

“The Church of Scotland is unique in many ways, just one is that "decisions concerning the conduct of public worship in the Church of Scotland are entirely at the discretion of the parish minister. As a result, a wide variety of musical resources are used. However, at various times in its history, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has commissioned volumes of psalms and hymns for use by congregations." (Wikipedia) The Scottish Psalter was first assembled in 1564 (with music); it evolved over time and was (slightly) combined with the Church of England version to arrive at the 1650 edition. This edition held fairly steady until a modification in 1929. Suffice it to say that the Scots do not take to changes readily.”

There are five sets of initials on the sampler and our guess is that the maker was AS and the others are those of family members. A delicate border worked in a very small scale surrounds the sampler nicely. 

Worked in silk on wool, it is in excellent condition, conservation mounted into a 19th century, beveled mahogany frame.