Caroline M. O. Emanuel

This sampler offers strong visual appeal through its excellent composition and execution along with a distinctly American story told by the history of the samplermaker’s family. 

Caroline Morris Ogden Emanuel was born in New York in 1825, the daughter of Michael Emanuel (1780-1842) and Eleanor (Kip) Emanuel (1783-1872). Her father was Jewish and born in England. Her mother was from a highly prominent early American family of Dutch ancestry, dating back to Henrick Kip (c.1600-1685). 

Michael’s parents, Michael, Sr. (d. 1801) and Flora (Levy) Emanuel (1762-1817), were born in England and emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina in the 18th century. Charleston has one of the oldest and richest Jewish histories in the United States, dating back to the late 17th century. The synagogue, Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, was established there in 1749.

Michael, Sr. died in 1801 and is buried in Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Cemetery, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the South. Flora was born in 1762 in London to Mordecai and Mary (Cohen) Levy who were from present-day Germany. 

Several members of the Emanuel family are listed in A Biographical Dictionary of Early American Jews Colonial Times Through 1800 by Joseph R. Rosenbloom (University of Kentucky Press). 

Eleanor Kip’s parents were Gerrit and Nelletje (Brower) Kip who were married in New York in 1768. We enjoyed coming to know that Caroline’s first ancestor in America, Henrick Kip, was a tailor by trade (https://history.nycourts.gov/figure/hendrick-hendericksen), establishing the family tradition of working with needle and thread.

Michael, Jr. removed to New York from Charleston and married Eleanor Kip by 1809. He served in the New York 3rd Artillery Regiment in the War of 1812. He then established a business as a grocer at 146 Front Street in Manhattan. Michael and Eleanor had 13 children including Caroline. When they died in 1842 and 1872 respectively, they were each buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. 

In 1842, when she was 17, Caroline married Capt. Samuel Rose (1810-1857), a sea captain who was lauded for his heroism. He saved the lives of 30 of his passengers after a tragic shipwreck off the coast of Newfoundland in 1840. Caroline and Samuel had two children. He died of an accidental gunshot wound in 1857, reported by the New York Herald. Caroline did not remarry and died in 1893. She and her husband are buried in Green-Wood cemetery.

Caroline’s sampler presents a central floral arrangement flanked by leafy plants growing from hillocks. The verse is one that we haven’t seen previously; it epitomizes the advice given to schoolgirls of the period, ending with, “Let virtue be thy guide for she’ll dispense / Sinceity [sic] Discretion Truth and Sense.” The excellent, four-sided border is highly developed, with large veined leaves and flower blossoms. 

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