Polly Loring

This fine American sampler was made in 1787 by Polly Loring of Hingham, Massachusetts; it is listed in the seminal 1921 book, American Samplers by Bolton and Coe. The Loring family in America began with Thomas Loring, who emigrated by 1634 and settled in northern Plymouth County. Members of the Loring family figure prominently in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and were original settlers of the towns of Hingham and Hull. John Loring (1630-1714), Polly’s great-great-grandfather was a town clerk, Selectman and Representative to the General Court in 1692.

Several generations later, Mary Loring (in the 18th century Polly was the nickname for Mary) was born in 1778 in Hingham, to Joseph Loring and his second wife, Ruth James. According to the Loring Genealogy, published in 1917, Joseph Loring was a cooper who served in early regiments as well as in the Revolutionary War. Polly was the ninth of her father’s ten children.

Interestingly, Polly's brother, Josiah Loring (1775-1840) was a bookseller and charter of maps who became one of America's best known makers of globes. In 1838 Loring received a silver medal for his globes, as noted in Globes from the Western World, by Dekker and van der Krogt, pp. 139-140. His highly regarded celestial and terrestrial globes are in museums and important collections.

In 1798, Polly married Alexander Young, printer and publisher of, among other things, the New England Palladium. One of their sons, Rev. Alexander Young, was a Unitarian minister and antiquarian, involved with Harvard College and the Massachusetts Historical Society for many decades. He was the author of many books on the history of Plymouth Colony and the planters of the Massachusetts Bay.

Polly died in 1849 at age 71 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The sampler features alphabets, a numerical progression, a well-developed horizontal band and the inscription, “Polly Loring Sampler 1787 Born February 16 1778.” She may have attended the Derby School of Hingham, an excellent school just down the road from her home. This school was established in 1784 and was patronized by many illustrious families of the town. Polly’s younger sister Lydia attended the Derby School where she worked a sampler dated 1794 which is also listed in the Bolton & Coe book.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition with one very minor weakness to the linen. It has been conservation mounted into a black painted frame.