Caroline True

Aptly named “1837 A SAMPLER 1837” at the top, this is a handsome sampler featuring alphabets and numbers carefully worked by ten-year-old Caroline True, who nicely included her birthdate, December 30, 1826 and the name of her town, Montville, Maine, in her inscription. Several flower buds embellish the top corners and bottom row, and a perimeter of diamond-shapes provides a fine border.

Montville is in Waldo County about 26 miles northeast of Augusta. A New England gazetteer published in 1839 by John Hayward of Boston, describes it as, “a beautiful and flourishing town, watered by some of the head branches of Sheepscot River … with a population in 1837 of 1,937.”

Caroline was the daughter of Moses and Lois (Knowles) True, the 6th of their 7 children. Moses (1791-1871) was a prominent citizen who served in the Maine State Legislature in 1840. His father, Deacon Ezekiel True (1755–1842), served in the Revolutionary War, initially responding to the Lexington Alarm. Caroline removed to Ohio along with some family members. She died young, in 1847, and is buried in Knox County, as is her mother.

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