Jane Brimblecom

The pictorial samplers of Marblehead, Massachusetts are widely acknowledged to be among the most exceptional of all American samplers.  Betty Ring, in vol. I of Girlhood Embroidery, writes at length about these samplers, stating that they “represent American girlhood embroidery as its best…. (capturing) the spirit of optimism in the new nation as well as the climate of their town.”  

Within the overall group from Marblehead are several outstanding and large samplers attributed to the instruction of Mrs. Miriam Barber (1735-1812). These samplers were made on green linsey-woolsey and depict the same delightful couple – a seated lady with a parasol and a reticule, and a standing gentleman with his top hat. The lawn below them is animated with four sheep and a dog. The verse and inscription are contained within a hexagon or oval decorated with leaves, flowers and a fine pair of birds. The beautifully worked three-sided border provides an excellent framework for the composition. Betty Ring ended her writing about these samplers by stating that they are shining examples of the best in American schoolgirl art.

Jane Brimblecom’s outstanding sampler is a newly discovered addition to this important body of work and is closely related to the 1807 sampler by Mary Sparhawk, shown as figure 159 in Girlhood Embroidery. Jane’s sampler is, in our opinion, the most aesthetically appealing of those made under the instruction of Mrs. Miriam Barber.  

Jane was born in Marblehead on December 6, 1799; she and her twin brother were the eldest of the seven children born to Nathaniel and Jane (Haskell) Brimblecom. The Essex Antiquarian Volume 12 (1908) documents the first of the American branch of the family began with John Brimblecom (1622-1678) who was in Massachusetts by 1655 and settled in Marblehead, where he died in 1678.

In 1819, Jane married Samuel Giles (1790-1839) and they remained in Marblehead where they had nine children. After his death, Jane married Benjamin Asenath Robinnson and they had two children. Jane died in 1871 in Marblehead. This sampler descended in Jane’s family, passed down to a daughter in each subsequent generation until just recently.

Worked in silk on linsey-woolsey, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine mahogany frame.