Frances Martha Skinner

An endearing little sampler, this was made by Frances Martha Skinner, a six-year-old girl living in Charlestown, one of most historic neighborhoods in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Much is known about the Skinner family in America, which began with Thomas Skinner (1617-1703), a victualler from Chichester, England, who was in Massachusetts by the middle of the 17th century. The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1629-1818 by Thomas Bellows Wyman (David Clapp and Son, Boston, 1879) published the Skinner family history. 

Frances was born on July 24, 1817, the 12th of 16 children (!) of John and Hannah (Hurd) Skinner of Charlestown. John was a successful merchant and, according to the published information, “initiated enterprises of great benefit to the community.”

In 1842, Frances married Henry Tingey Wingate; they had 3 children. Frances died in 1849 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, along with family members. 

The sampler begins simply with alphabets and numbers. As Frances worked this smapler and became more proficient, she stitched a quotation that we found published in England in 1793 in a book entitled, On the Duties of the Young by Dr. Blair. 

One of Frances’ sisters, Mary Hurd Skinner, made a sampler when she was 7 years old in 1815. That sampler was listed in the seminal book, American Samplers by Bolton & Coe, published by the Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America in 1921. Mary stitched the aphorism, “Be virtuous while thou art young,” which was published in the same 1793 book. 

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