Sarah Ward

A large and very interesting sampler, this is signed along the bottom, “Wrought by Sarah M. Ward Lebanon Aug 1835 Taught by Ann Beaumont.” With this, a newly discovered example, there are now five known samplers made at this school – one is in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum and one is in the collection of the Lebanon Historical Society. We have sold the two others, and they are in a private collection. 

All five of the Beaumont school samplers depict a large, detailed and beautifully worked building with six chimneys. They also each include a tall and very fashionably dressed lady with a parasol. All of Sarah’s needlework is extremely fine, from the large eyelet stitched alphabet to the very fine tent stitches forming the building and many birds. 

Notably, Sarah included a family record on her sampler, with the date that her parents, Fenner Ward and Melinda Loomis, were married along with the births of their children: Harriet Newell, Sarah Melinda, Mary Ann and Fenner Loomis. As noted, Sarah was born on August 21, 1824. This is the only Beaumont school sampler to include this type of recording.

Many books publish information about the ancestry of this family. Fenner Ward (1788-1855) was the son of Ichabod and Mary (Cady) Ward and Descendants of Nicholas Cady of Watertown, Mass 1645-1910 by Orrin Peer Allen (Palmer, Mass, 1910) informs us that Ichabod Ward, Sarah’s grandfather, served in several regiments and companies in the Revolutionary War. After the war he was a merchant in Norwich and Lebanon, opening stores with his sons and engaging in shipping goods between Norwich and the West Indies. He was, “active in public affairs and highly esteemed as a man of force and integrity.” 

Sarah married Asahel Tanner (1823-1908) in 1848; they resided in Preston, Connecticut where he was a merchant and tailor. They had one child, a daughter born in 1851. The 1860 census indicates that he was Town Treasurer, and they were a family of substantial means. Sarah died circa 1905.

There is also a great deal of information known about the family of the teacher, Ann Beaumont. She was born in 1794 in Lebanon, a daughter of Samuel and Lucretia (Abel) Beaumont. The first Beaumont ancestor in America was William Beaumont who settled in Saybrook, Connecticut circa 1640. 

Ann remained in Lebanon throughout her life, didn’t marry and was recorded as a teacher of needlework in family histories. Her older brother, Dr. William Beaumont, was a greatly accomplished physician who spent much of his career as an army surgeon; he is known as the “Father of Gastric Physiology.” Ann died in 1877 and is buried in Center Cemetery in Lebanon.

The file that accompanies the sampler contains much information about both Sarah Ward and Ann Beaumont. 

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. A photo of the reverse of the sampler taken prior to mounting indicates that the sampler has remained close to its original coloration. It has been conservation mounted and is in a mahogany frame with a figured maple bead. 

photo of reverse