Sampler

Object Name: Sampler

Object ID: 2010.030.02

Creator: Spaulding, Nancy (1818-1840)

Place of Origin: Washington, NH

Date: 1829

Description: Sampler. Made by Nancy Spaulding (1818-1840) of Washington, NH; 1829. Worked with silk threads on a loosely woven ground with a linen warp and cotton weft, consisting of five alphabets followed by numbers one through eight. The first alphabet is script capital letters worked in cross stitch; second is block capital letters worked in Algerian eye stitch; third is block capitals in cross stitch; fourth is bold block capitals in cross stitch; fifth is lower-case letters in cross stitch. Inscription follows on lower lines: "Nancy Spauldings Sampler / Wrought in the 11 year of her age. 1829." The lines of alphabets and inscription are framed by a simple chain design in green and brown, followed by an undulating vine with simple floral motifs alternating in orientation within the curves of the vine. Colors of the silk twist are predominately shades of brown, tan, and turquoise. The tan colors may have been originally pink. All four edges of the ground fabric are hemmed.

Material: Linen

Dimensions: H-15.25 W-21.75 inches

Provenance: The sampler descended to Ellen Amanda Hodskins, born in Walpole, a daughter of Asahel Bundy and Cynthia (Hodskins) Hodskins. She married George D. Kingsbury of Gilsum in 1846, worked "Mountain Farm" on the side of Kingsbury Mountain, with her husband and raised a family. Their son George Warren Kingsbury married Frances Watkins, who next lived on the farm. The samplers next passed from their daughter, Alice Kingsbury Wright to her children Justin Wright, Alfred Wright, Walter Wright, and Theodora Wright Weston.

Credit Line: Gift of Theodora Wright Weston

People: Spaulding, Nancy (1818-1840)

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