An instructress of considerable skill was teaching girls in Leominster, a town north of Worcester, Massachusetts, for at least ten years beginning in 1806. There are several wonderfully developed samplers that belong to this group and they all share the same unusual and praiseworthy composition and excellent needlework. They feature an octagonal or oval center outlined in a garland of flowers or satin stitched diamonds, surrounded with a very lovely border of flowers on leafy vines. Each of the makers inscribed their work in a solidly stitched panel.

The group includes Martha Lincoln’s 1806 sampler that was in the Theodore Kapnek Collection and illustrated as figure 52 in A Gallery of American Samplers: The Theodore H. Kapnek Collection by Glee Krueger (E.P. Dutton, New York, 1978). And a sampler made by Laura Murdock in 1816 was published by Mary Jaene Edmonds, in Samplers and Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art 1700-1850 (Rizzoli, New York, 1991). 

Another of these excellent samplers is now available, made by Smilinda Wilder, age 12 in 1811. Her needlework is very fine and the pictorial composition is outstanding - the vase of large flower blossoms flanked by leafy trees that bend into it. We love the detail of the vase’s curly handles. The verse, with its focus on the making of the sampler itself, is especially appealing, “My heart exults while to the attentive eye / The curious needle spreads the enameled dye / With varying shades the pleasing task beguiles, / My friends approved me; and my parents smile."

The Wilder family of New England began with Thomas Wilder, who was born in Oxford, England in 1618 and died in Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1667. The family remained in that area of Worcester County for generations. Smilinda Wilder was born on May 2, 1799, the third of twelve children of Peter (1765-1855) and Sarah (Joslin 1765-1845) Wilder. The family had a farm in Ashburnham and then Leominster, which remained in the possession of descendants for generations. Smilinda married Dr. Silas Bruce and died very young, in 1826 at age 27.

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

An exceptional and very impressive sampler, this Dresden-type needlework picture was made towards the end of the 18th century, likely in Germany. The techniques include cut and drawn thread work and as well as surface embroidery, all of it accomplished on almost impossibly fine linen.

The central depiction is a large Louis XVI vase with an arrangement of large flower blossoms next to a large bird on a branch with a berry in its beak. Eight small vignettes provide excellent animation on either side - scenes of birds, animals and a little man with a walking stick. The highly refined needlework and the whimsical, organic subject matter make for a wonderfully engaging combination. 

Notably, the border exhibits a great deal of very beautiful drawnwork. The border along the bottom serves as a plinth, grounding the scene and the graceful, scrolling initials of the maker, M. N. 

Worked in linen on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition with some very tiny areas of loss to the linen. There is an old repair near the bird in the upper right. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine, gold leaf 19th century frame. 

photo of reverse 
 

The samplers of Burlington County, New Jersey, made in the first decades of the 19th century, are some of the most significant and desirable of all schoolgirl needlework. Lydia Stokes, a ten-year-old from a prominent Quaker family in Evesham, Burlington County, worked this excellent, large pictorial and verse sampler in 1824. Many of the classic Burlington County sampler characteristics are included – the large building (possibly a view of the Westtown School), the lawn with assorted animals and a lady, and a large rooster, squirrel, fox and many Quaker motifs.

Lydia was born on January 8, 1814, the last of the ten children of Joshua and Deborah (Hooten) Stokes. In 1829, at age 15, she attended the Westtown School. In 1841 she married Henry W. Wills (1805-1886), a farmer and businessman who was also from a prominent Burlington County Quaker family. The Wills family land was deeded from William Penn to Dr. Daniel Wills in 1676. Lydia and Henry had five children who were born between 1843 and 1857. She remained active in the Quaker community, and, as an adult, served as a trustee on the board of the Westtown School from 1861 to 1879. She died in 1881 and is buried at Medford Friends Meeting Cemetery. 

This sampler descended in the family until at least 1933 when it was in the possession of Lydia's granddaughter Julia Haines Moon. A large file of genealogical research accompanies this sampler.

It was worked in silk onto fine linen gauze and is in excellent condition with a few lost stitches and some very minor discoloration to the linen. It has been conservation mounted into its excellent, original mahogany corner block frame.

The first needlework project made by most young girls would have been a simple marking sampler with the alphabet, sometimes exhibiting different versions of the letters, and perhaps an inscription. The makers were generally taught in informal settings and their samplers may not have been framed. There can be a simplicity to these samplers that we find very appealing. This delightful, little example is signed, “SARA STEEL OF NEW SALEM THE EIGHT AND TWENTIETH DAY OF FEBRUARY IS MY BETH DAY.” 

New Salem is located about 15 miles due east of Deerfield. It was settled in 1737 and named for Salem, the coastal town north of Boston. While we can’t pin down the year of Sara’s birth, the vital records of New Salem include her marriage intention to William Magoon in 1795 and their marriage in 1800. Sara was living in New Salem and William was from Ware, a nearby town. Other family records state that Sara was born in 1770. 

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

photo of reverse

A nicely made sampler with a pleasing aesthetic, this is the work of 11-year-old Jemima Shuker. She was the daughter of Job and Mary Shuker, baptized on February 9, 1806, who lived in Shiffnal, a small town with an ancient history, about 30 miles northwest of Birmingham. Included on her sampler are birds, little trees, butterflies and flower vases along with her verses. 

As an adult, Jemima worked as a dressmaker and milliner, having learned her needleworking skills early. An 1828 trade directory of Shropshire shows her on New Street in Wellington, a nearby town. She remained single and died in 1843. 

The sampler was worked in silk on wool and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a period figured maple frame. 

Samplers worked on green linsey-woolsey fabric are a wonderful rarity and offer a very appealing aesthetic. Many of these samplers were made in or nearby coastal towns of New England and a particularly good, small group was made in Dover, New Hampshire. Ruth Roberts lived in Somersworth, about 5 miles from Dover, and her praiseworthy sampler shows the influence of that group. She may have attended school in Dover, or her teacher was from there. 

Ruth began her sampler with classic alphabets, using a form of the uppercase A and alphabets without the letter J, both of these characteristics are carry-overs from the 18th century. The verse, “O God, how swift my moments fly / how great the thought that I must die / how short a day a month a year / how fast my moments disappear,” is not one that we have seen previously, although the sentiment is one that we find on many early samplers. The pictorial area at the bottom of the sampler shows the strong influence of Dover samplers, specifically the central element rising from a vertical black rod. 

As she stitched on her sampler, Ruth was born on September 13, 1787; her parents were James Roberts (1737-1833) and Martha (Goodwin 1761-1844) Roberts. The 1790 and 1810 census records show James Roberts in Somersworth. Ruth married Benjamin Hawkes (1772-1859) and they lived in Windham, Maine where they had at least five children. 

The sampler was worked in silk on linsey-woolsey and it is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine figured maple frame. 

This sampler features our favorite phrasing of its inscription and a delightful pictorial lower register. It’s signed, “Fanny Pratt is my name England is my nation Dighton is my dwelling place and Christ is my salvation.” Along the right side at the end of the second alphabet it reads, “year 1804.” A blue house with a matching picket fence is flanked by stylized trees with enormous blue birds with a starry sky between them. Two couples, each lady wearing a fashionably wide skirt, are featured as well. The color palette is overall soft; a photo of the reverse of the sampler taken prior to mounting (see below) indicates that this is close to the original color rather than an issue of fade.  

Fanny was born on December 5, 1790, the youngest of seven children of Jabez Pratt and his wife, the wonderfully-name Hopestill (Eddy) Pratt. They lived in Dighton, a small town in Bristol County, about 7 miles southwest of Taunton. 

In 1814, Fanny married Benjamin Gregg and they removed to Bristol, Ontario County, New York. They had at least six children born between 1814 and 1830. Fanny died in 1866 and is buried along with family members in Evergreen Cemetery in Bristol. 

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

photo of reverse

Samplers made by Pennsylvania German girls share strong characteristics and, in general, are unlike most other American samplers. Tandy and Charles Hersh’s book, Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans (The Pennsylvania German Society, Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, 1991) provides a comprehensive study of these.  Some of these samplermakers included distinctive motifs that are found only on these samplers and some combine these with more mainstream designs and techniques. This sampler made by Mary Nissley, a young Mennonite girl, is a very appealing example of the latter. 

The large central area is filled with Pennsylvania German motifs that float in a random but balanced  composition, while the lower portion presents a tightly worked verse and an exceptionally fine surround accomplished in very beautiful queen's-stitched strawberries. Two other motifs, the heart at left and a large strawberry at right, are also worked in the queen's-stitch. Much of this lower portion resembles samplers made in Philadelphia and other cities. 

The sampler is signed along the third line from the top, “Mary Nissly 1841 March,” and the verse reads, “Mary Nissley is my name / Mountjoy is my station / Heaven is my dwelling place / & Christ is my salvation / When I am dead & in my grave / & all my bones are rotten / When this you see remember me / Else I shall be forgotten.” 

The Nissley family in America began with Jacob Nissley, who emigrated from Palatinate, Germany and settled in Mount Joy Township. Mary was born in 1828, the daughter of John Kraybill (1800-1885) and Barbara (Snyder 1806-1875) Nissley of Mount Joy, Lancaster County, according to Mennonite Vital Records. Mary married a cousin, Martin Nissley, and they became the parents of at least four children. She died in 1886 and is buried with family members in Kraybill Mennonite Cemetery in Mount Joy. 

The Nissley family (spelling variations include Nissly and Nisley in fact Mary spelled her surname differently in the two places she used it on this sampler) lived in Mount Joy and nearby Rapho Township. Three of Mary’s cousins made samplers that are listed in Samplers of the Pennsylvania Germans, and that by Mary Nissley, dated 1840 is illustrated as figure 4-76.  A sampler made by another cousin, Fanny Nissley in 1839 (link: https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/65479), is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and published as plate 159 in The Fine Art of Textiles The Collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by Dilys E. Blum (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1997). 

Two of the three Nissley cousin samplers include the same verse as Mary, and one, made by Martha Nissley in 1842, names her school on the sampler - Mrs. Zook’s School. We feel that it’s very likely that our Mary made her sampler while attending that school as well. 

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. Please see a photo below of the back of the sampler taken prior to mounting. It has been conservation mounted and is in a cherry frame with black bead. 
 

photo of reverse

A very unusual and appealing sampler, this features a lengthy text entitled “Address to Liberty” and an exceptional scene of a compound of a very large public building and its appendages. A weathervane sits on top of the building’s central tower, with huge butterflies on either side. A rich green lawn with little animals and pathways indicating perspective completes this handsome scene. The lower register of many sampler motifs, including an engaging pair of deer flanked by stylized Scottish trees, provides further embellishment.

The sampler is signed, “Jannet Marquis, her work April 16, 1823,” along with the initials, HA LA IR MM. There are characteristics that point to a possible Scottish origin and we hope that further research will tell us more.

The text is sourced from a poem by Joseph Addington (1672-1719) and reads as follows:

Address to Liberty
Oh Liberty! Thou goddess heavenly bright profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight, eternal pleasures in thy presence reign - and smiling plenty leads thy wanton trash eased of her load - subjection grows more light and poverty looks cheerful in thy sight - thou makes t the gloomy face of nature gay - givest beauty to the sun - and pleasure to the day - on foreign mountains may the sun refine - the grapes soft juice, and mellow it to wine, with citron groves adorn a distant soil, and the fat olive swell with floods of oil.  We envy not the warmer clime that lies, in ten degrees of more indulgent skies, nor at the coarseness of our heaven repine.  Tho’o’er our heads the frozen pleiades shine ‘tis liberty that crown’s Britannia’s isle, and makes her - barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile. 

Another similar sampler is known; that one is dated 1827 and the verse is the same however there is no scene of the buildings and lawn. 

Worked in silk on wool, the sampler is in very good condition with many very minor areas of loss to the wool. These have been stabilized and the sampler has been conservation mounted. The frame is maple with a gilt liner. 

We’re pleased to offer this excellent pair of samplers made by sisters, both depicting fine pictorial scenes and naming New York. Henrietta Amelia was the older sister, born in 1819, and her sampler was made when she was 9 years old. Anna Louisa was born in 1829 and made her sampler when she was only 8 years old. They very likely attended the same school, although nine years apart. The samplers exhibit appealing horizontal formats with richly worked lawns and trees. Notably, the buildings, two houses and a church with a weathervane on the steeple, and the fences are very finely stitched. The fact that these samplers are together is quite fortunate.

Henrietta and Anna were the daughters of Enoch (1790-1876) and Anna Louisa (Morgan, 1799-1888) Hidden. There were ancestors of the Hidden family in Massachusetts and New Hampshire for many generations and their grandfather, Jeremiah Hidden (1745-1813) served in the Revolutionary War. 

Enoch Hidden was born in New England, removing to New York as an adult where he had a machine shop and brass foundry. Published information is available from many sources. The Ottoman Dynasty A History of Sultans of Turkey from the Earliest Authentic Record to the Present Time by Alexander W. Hidden (New York, 1912) provides the following about Enoch, “He was a very ingenious man. Among his several inventions was that of the cannon-lock, which was adopted by the United States Government and in the early part of 1837 he obtained a contract for 2,500 cannon-locks and other articles which amounted to $40,000. It was also adopted by the Russian Government through the efforts of his Excellency Baron de Krudener, the Russian ambassador, who was in Washington, D. C., at that time; also he invented the nautical ventilators and the side lights, which are capable of being instantaneously removed and new glasses immediately inserted. Mr. Enoch Hidden died December 12, 1876, at his residence, 9 West 28th Street. New York City in the ninety-second year of his age … His eldest daughter, Henrietta Amelia Hidden, married Mr. William Henry Webb, the noted shipbuilder of New York Citv and founder of Webb's Academy and Home for Shipbuilders at Sedgwick Avenue and 188th Street, Borough of Bronx, New York City, N. Y. Mr. William H. Webb died October 30, 1899, and Mrs. Webb on the 5th of April, 1902 at their residence, 415 Fifth Avenue.”

Henrietta’s husband, William H. Webb, is noted as America’s first true naval architect. He designed some of the fastest and most successful sailing packets and clipper ships ever built along with some of the largest steamships of the era. Upon his retirement, he turned to philanthropy and civic projects. Henrietta and William had at least two children. 

Anna Louisa married Dr. Augustus Kinsley Gardner (1821-1876), an esteemed physician who graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1844. The Bellows Genealogy by Thomas Bellows Peck (Keenes, NH, 1898), includes a biographical sketch of him, stating that along with a great many professional contributions and accomplishments, including the invention of valuable medical instruments, he was interested in public health and was the first to propose establishing drinking fountains or hydrants in New York. He was said to have great literary talent, contributing many articles outside of his medical field to New York daily papers. Anna and Augustus had three children and she died in 1914. 

These samplers were in the collection of Joanne Foulk, a noted sampler collector and researcher who was responsible for the 1990 sampler exhibition, Lessons Stitched in Silk: Samplers from the Canterbury Region of New Hampshire, at the Hood Museum, Dartmouth College. 

Both of the samplers are worked in silk on linen and are in excellent condition. Anna seems to have removed the last two digits from the date of her sampler at some point. They have been conservation mounted and are in cherry frames. 

Henriette Amelia Hidden (above)

Anna Louisa Hidden (above)