Sarah Garwood

Some of the finest samplers made in the mid-Atlantic states come from Burlington County, New Jersey and many were made by Quaker schoolgirls. While pictorial, Sarah Garwood’s sampler displays excellent needlework, especially in the horizontal band of queen’s stitched elements which also includes tiny dogs and birds. The large initials, SP, are likely those of her instructress. 

The sampler is signed, “Wrought by Sarah Garwood daughter of Japheth and Elizabeth Garwood aged 15 years and 9 month,” in ivory silk along the bottom of the sampler. The Garwood family in America began with Thomas Garwood (1669-1745), who was born in Suffolk, England and came to New Jersey in 1681 with his father, William Garwood.  Four generations later, our samplermaker, Sarah, was born on February 22, 1792, the daughter of Japheth and Elizabeth (Bates) Garwood who were married in 1791. The family belonged to the Upper Evesham Monthly Meeting. 

In 1814, Sarah married Jacob Prickitt and they had two children, Rachel and Daniel, and Sarah died young, likely in 1821. 

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition with a few missing stitches. It has been conservation mounted and is in black and gold frame.