Sally Ross

We find Sally Ross's sampler to be very appealing – it embodies the folky spirit of American samplermaking; each of her baskets, trees, birds and vines has a life of its own and transforms the sampler into a visual delight. The tightly worked three-sided polychromed edging provides a geometric counterpoint and the teal-blue border along the bottom is the platform from which the tree and vines spring. Three carefully worked birds provide a wonderful animation to the scene.

The sampler displays two shared characteristics of samplers made in the north shore area of Massachusetts: the diagonally checkered baskets and the expanded tessellated upper case "W", used in the word "wrought."

Sally Ross was born on December 27, 1798, to Jeremiah and Hannah (Willcomb) Ross of Ipswich, Massachusetts, who were married 1793 in Ipswich. Both the Ross and Willcomb families had deep roots in Massachusetts. Jeremiah (1767-1834) is remembered in various publications as the proprietor of Ross Tavern, which he bought in 1809. He greatly expanded it and kept it as an inn.

Sally married John Holmes of Allentown, New Hampshire on January 12, 1823, and they remained in Ipswich where they had several children. Sally died in 1869. The research file that accompanies the sampler includes photocopies from several published sources.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition, conservation mounted into a cherry frame with a figured maple bead.