Sarah Eastman

A very appealing and beautifully made sampler, this is inscribed, “Sarah Eastman aged 12 years 1811.” Sarah’s depiction of the house is unusually detailed, with delicate details such as the fanlights over the door and large central second floor window and the complex and refined working of the widow’s walk. The fencing and gates are also worked with extraordinary detail.

The border is particularly praiseworthy as Sarah worked a graceful, organic vine with a wonderful assortment of specific flower blossoms and leaves. Notable as well are the two deep blue-green floral elements in the upper corners and two similarly colored but more delicate sprigs of flowers near the lower corners. The shimmering silks used for this border as well as the trees and lawn add nicely to the sampler’s aesthetic appeal. 

The verse also contributes to the sampler as it reads, “Virtue’s the chiefest beauty of the mind / The noblest ornament of human kind / Let virtue prove your never fading bloom / For mental beaty will survive the tomb.”

History and Genealogy of the Eastman Family in America by Guy S. Rix (Concord, NH, 1901) informs us that the family here began with Roger Eastman, who was born in Wales in 1611 and died in Salisbury, Massachusetts in 1694. 

Sarah’s branch of the family remained in or very nearby Salisbury, a coastal town about 40 miles north of Boston. She was born on December 30, 1798, the middle of three children of Moses and Hannah (Chandler) Eastman who were married in Amesbury in 1794. Sarah married at a very young age in 1812, and they had three children. She died in 1823. 

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a cherry frame with a maple outer bead. 
 

photo of reverse