Catherine Elizabeth Gray

This splendid, large sampler is greatly appealing for its aesthetic appeal as well as the technical skills of its maker. She signed her sampler, in the center cartouche, “C E Gray”   - and we know that she was Catherine Elizabeth Gray of Charles County, Maryland. Much is known about the family, a prominent one in this area in the south central part of the state.

A large Federal house on a lawn is featured prominently and the many potted flowers, growing fruit plants, baskets of further flowers and fruit and Quaker medallions, two containing paired birds, fill the space around the house and lawn scene admirably.

Catherine made a marking sampler in 1831 and then, circa 1835, made this highly-developed house and motif sampler. The marking sampler is in the collection of the Charles County Historical Society, donated in 2010 by a descendant. The sampler we are offering now also descended in the family.

Born on September 14, 1814 at Chinquepin, near Grayton in Charles County, Catherine was the daughter of Capt. Alexander Gray (1788-1839) and Elizabeth (Price) Gray (1793-1857), one of their seven children. The family lived on 540 acres, part of an original land grant entitled “Friendship” on Nanjemoy Creek.

A full article about Catherine Elizabeth Gray, her family and her marking sampler is published in the Charles County Historical Society’s October 2010 newsletter, on pp. 6-8, and a printout of that article is included in the file of genealogical research that accompanies this sampler. A lovely photograph of Catherine as an older lady is published in this article.

On December 31, 1839, Catherine married William Dunnington Cobey (1810-1847) as his second wife. She inherited 93 acres from her father after his death, and within a few years she and her husband bought further acreage from one of her brothers. They couple had five children and William died in 1847. Catherine remained in the area and lived with her children. She died in 1897 and is buried at Christ Church Durham Parish Cemetery in Ironsides, Charles County.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled cherry frame with a figured maple outer bead.