Jenny Morrison

As she stitched on her fine sampler, Jenny Morrison was born May 2nd, 1792. She would have made her sampler when she was about 11 to 13 years old and attending a school, likely a local one. Several alphabets, a row of tiny hearts and a wonderful four-line verse reading, “How blest the maid whom circling years improve / Her God the object of her warmest love / Whose useful hours successive as they glide / The book, the needle and the pen divide,” accompany the inscription about her birth. 

A very good register of trees and plants grounds the composition along the bottom, with side borders of stylized buds on leafy vines. 

Jenny was the daughter of Robert Morrison (1754-1846) and Jenny (Alexander) Morrison (1749-1832), of Londonderry, a town just south of Manchester. In 1721, the town was named for Londonderry, County Ulster, Ireland, where many of its residents were born. In fact, Jenny’s great-grandfather, Samuel Morrrison (1671-1757) was born in Londonderry, Ireland and became one of the grantees of the town in New Hampshire. 

In 1821, she married Robert Dickey (1786-1866). A published family genealogy describes Robert in detail, informing us that he was, “social in his nature, possessing an equable temper and genial disposition. He was always ready to entertain and be entertained, and enjoyed heartily the society of jolly, easy-going company.” He was a successful farmer and the family lived on the farm that Jenny inherited from her father.  

Jenny and Robert had two children, and she died in 1862 at age 70. She is buried along with family members in Valley Cemetery in Londonderry. 

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