Mary Staples’ fine sampler, dated 1801 in Roman numerals, features excellent and very specific depictions of birds and flowers accomplished in embroidery. The four-line verse that she included was written as a hymn by Isaac Watts (1694-1748); it reads, “A Wake my Heart arise my Tongue / Prepare a tuneful Voice / In God the Life of all my Joys / Aloud Will I rejoice.”

The sampler was worked in silk on wool; the needlework is in excellent condition but there is some loss to the wool background. It has been conservation mounted and stabilized and is now in a molded and black painted frame. 

There existed in England, in the early years of the 19th century, a charming tradition: needleworkers fashioned tiny, circular samplers to fit inside the covers of pocket watches that gentlemen carried. With brief aphorisms, tiny birds or flowers and borders, these miniatures survive as one of the most endearing types of samplers. This one, reading, “Forget me not,” is an excellent example of this genre. 

Worked in silk on linen, this is in excellent condition, conservation mounted into a molded and black painted frame. 

This is a particularly appealing little piece that was made by a young needleworker for her catechetic teacher; a handwritten note and photo of the maker remained with it all these years, providing significant context and documentation. It may have been intended to be a small fold-over case, perhaps for calling cards. The vignette of two deer under a spreading tree is delightful.

The note was addressed to Mr. G. W. Aughinbaugh, “Starlight mansion” Emmitsburg, MD and it reads, “Will my Dear Mr. Aughinbaugh accept this small token of affection from his little catechetical scholar.” The given name of the maker, Miss Smith, is difficult to read clearly, the place and date are Emmitsburg, April 2, 1846.

Rev. George W. Aughinbaugh (1819-1913) was a Reform clergyman in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The 1850 census indicates that he was a G. R. Minister living in Emmitsburg with his family. 

Quite wonderfully, the needlework and note are also accompanied by a beautiful photograph portrait of the maker.

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

portrait of and letter from maker

A dear little sampler, this was made by Betsy Kilshall in 1839; she stitched the name of her village, Kilshall, on the sampler as well. Burtonwood was a chapelry in the ancient parish of Warrington, in the West Derby Hundred of Lancashire. Betsy was born circa 1827. By 1841, she was living at Bradley Hall, Warrington, with her father, John, who was a farmer and mother, Mary. 

Betsy stitched filled the top half of the sampler with alphabets and numbers, and centered her inscription between two baskets of fruit, realizing too late that the last letter of her town wouldn’t fit on the same line.

Interestingly, Burtonwood seems to have remained a sleepy village until a 1942 agreement reached between the RAF and the US Army Air Forces when Burtonwood became the center of supply and maintenance of all US aircraft in the 8th & 9th Air Forces. Burtonwood later became the greatest AAF depot overseas.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a 19th century veneer frame.

The town of Washington in Litchfield County, Connecticut was formed in 1779, with lands carved from nearby towns of Woodbury, Litchfield, Kent, and New Milford. It was named after George Washington, of course. The Bryan family had been in Connecticut since the 17th century and is well documented in Alexander Bryan of Milford, Connecticut his Ancestors and Descendants by C. C Baldwin (Cleveland, Ohio, 1889). Harriet M. Bryan was born in Washington in 1816/17, the daughter of Alexander and Minerva (Hartnell) Bryan. Her sampler is signed, “Harriet M. Bryans Sampler Wrought by her in the summer of 1828 aged 11 years.” She used beautiful eyelet stitches in all upper-case letters to form the name of her town, likely an indication of civic pride that townspeople had in the name of their town. 

Harriet’s instructress was probably Miss S. Gunn who is documented in New England Samplers to 1840, by Glee Krueger (Old Sturbridge Village, 1978). Miss Gunn was named as the teacher on another sampler made in Washington, in 1823.

Harriet married Daniel Clark Logan and then after his death in 1857, Alanson Burgess. She died in 1888 and is buried in Washington Cemetery On The Green.

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. 

One of the most interesting types of Quaker needlework is the geometric medallion sampler and those made at the Westtown School in Chester County, Pennsylvania were the vanguard in America. Frances Vaux Pleasants, a 13-year-old Quaker girl from Philadelphia, entered Westtown in May of 1810 and made this sampler that same year, signing it with her initials. She also made a wonderful ink on paper map of the school and this is in the Westtown School’s collection and published in Threads of Useful Learning: Westtown School Sampler by Mary Uhl Brooks (Westtown School, West Chester, Pennsylvania, 2015), figure 36. 

The provenance of this outstanding sampler is highly significant as it was in the personal collection of the late Susan B. Swan, the revered, long-time Curator of Textiles at Winterthur Museum. It was published in her book, Plain & Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1650-1850 (Curious Works Press, 1995), as figure 36. The sampler remained in the collection of one of her sons and is now available for sale. A copy of Sue’s book will accompany the sampler.

 A great deal of information about the samplermaker, her parents and her later life is known and a complete file of research, including copies of Quaker records, will remain with the sampler.  Frances was born on April 4, 1797, the oldest of the ten children born to Charles and Ann (Emlen) Pleasants, members of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. 

Notably, her great-grandfather, John V. Pleasants, III (1695-1771) lived in Virginia and an historical marker now indicates the significant actions taken by him. It reads, in part, “Following a successful case before the Virginia court of appeals in 1777, the slaves of John Pleasants were allowed to follow the dictates of his 1771 will and were freed. His son, Robert Pleasants, then gave 78 former slaves 350 acres of his plantation. A community developed known as Gravelly Hill. Here in 1801 a Quaker school for Blacks was established.”

In 1822, Frances married Thomas Haight Leggett and they removed to Flushing, New York where they had seven children. She died in 1876.

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. 

family photo

A fine, little sampler, this is signed, Lydia Wollaston’s Work Made in Her 10th Year 1802.” The alphabets and inscription are surrounded by an excellent border that includes four, excellent, fat queen’s-stitched strawberries. 

Lydia was born October 10, 1792, to Willian and Elizabeth (Charity England) Wollaston of White Clay Creek, Delaware. They were Quakers and members of the Wilmington Monthly Meeting, where they were married in 1770. Lydia was the 12th of their 13 children and all the births were recorded at that Monthly Meeting. 

In 1810, Lydia married Alexander Harvey Mullin (1794-1852) and they had 10 children. They lived for a time in Virginia and by 1850 were living in Belleville, Illinois, where Lydia died in 1854. 

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

A beautiful sampler with an unusually refined nature, this is signed, M. Wilson and dated 1804. Included in the oval near the top is the classic sampler aphorism, “Tis Education forms the tender mind,” and, near the bottom within a little garland upheld by two birds, another of the same sort, “A Good name is better than Riches.” 

The pictorial motifs – including a cottage, fence and willow tree scene, large birds on little trees, four potted urns with flowers, elegant bowknot, tiny peacocks, and a basket of fruit are worked in the finest stitches. A tightly worked strawberry on vine border frames the composition well. 

Worked in silk on wool, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame.