Sampler (5743)

Marking sampler, silk thread on linen ground. Within a border made of a single line of cross stitching are twelve rows of inscriptions, nine rows alphabets with ampersands after the Z, and the last three the maker's name and age with a final row of numbers. First three rows are upper case Roman letters in rice stitch; the next three rows contain Italic letters done in cross stitch; the next two are another Roman alphabet with empty space following the ampersand, with a final lower case y and z which completes the lower case alphabet on the ninth row below. The maker's name and age and year of completion follows, the right side border has been broken to make room for the letter "e". The last line has numbers 1 through 18. The primary color of the sampler's needlework is black.

Provenance Narrative The sampler was made by Phebe Denison Miner 1802-1855 of New London County, Ct. ("In her ninth year" means she was eight years old, as she would be after August, 1810.) Her father John Miner is in Stonington, CT in the 1810 census. In 1844 Phebe married William Miner, her first cousin (his father Frederick and Phebe's father John Owen Miner were sons of Simeon Miner). They appear to have had no children; Phebe died in 1855.

William Miner's brother Sidney (b. 1806) was the grandfather of Sidney Hale Miner, the donor's husband.

Place Made United States CONNECTICUT New London Co. Stonington

Signatures/Marks ABCDEFGH IKLMNOPQR STVWXYZ& ABCDEFGHIK LMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ& ABCDEFGHIKL MNOPQ RSTUVWXYZ& yz abcdefghiklmnopqrstuvwx Phebe D Miner's Sampler made in the 9th year of her age.AD 1810 123456789 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18