Rebecca M. Champney

We love a sampler that tells the story of family ties. Rebecca Miller Champney, age 6, stitched the name of her aunt and instructress, Abigail Walters Champney, as part of the inscription on her excellent sampler. Rebecca was born on August 6, 1822, to Francis and Rebecca (Miller) Champney of Groton, Massachusetts. Her father’s younger sister, Abigail Walters Champney (1796-1883) was her teacher, either in a school or a family setting. 

The Champney family is well documented in many publications, including Descendants of the Elder Richard Champney of Cambridge, Massachusetts by Virginia Hewitt Watterson (Carlsbad, CA, 1989) traces the family back to the emigrant ancestor who arrived in Massachusetts in 1635.

This sampler is wonderfully advanced for a six year old, with carefully worked alphabets and a lower register filled with baskets of fruit, little birds, garlands of flowers and a religious aphorism. The composition and execution of the sampler are clear indications of the skill of both the young needleworker and her instructress. 

Rebecca went on to attend Lawrence Academy in Groton, matriculating in 1839. She remained single for many years, marrying a widower, Nathaniel Livermore (1807-1893) in 1881. She died in 1913 at age 90. Her aunt, Abigail, remained single her entire life and died at age 86 in 1883. 

Quite interestingly, we previously owned a very similar sampler made one year earlier, in 1827. That sampler (made by Elizabeth Kaulback) was made under the instruction of Fanny Mather Champney, born in 1793, a sister of teacher Abigail. It would certainly seem that Fanny and Abigail taught together. 

Rebecca’s 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.