Sampler (1598)

Marking sampler in vertical format, silk thread on linen ground. Divided into ten sections by rows of horizontal bands. The first two rows contain an upper case Roman alphabet, the third repeats an assortment of upper case letters, and the next two lines have a lower case Roman alphabet followed by an ampersand and numerals 1-8. The maker's touchmark takes the next five lines, ending halfway through the tenth line. Thread losses make some of the rest of this line illegible except for numerals 9, 2, and 3; the final row consists of sets of initials ending in "S", presumably Stone family members.

The sampler is bordered on three sides (left, right and top) by hem stitching in green. The alphabets in the center are worked entirely in cross stitch. Thread colors include

Provenance Narrative
Sarah "Sally" Stone, born on October 8, 1769 in Guilford, Connecticut, was the daughter of Reuben Stone and Elizabeth Chittenden, nee Fosdick, widow of William Chittenden. The sampler is dated October 1786, the month Sally turned seventeen. Sally never married, lived in Guilford her entire life, and died on July 19, 1842.

The initials can be identified as follows: RS=Reuben Stone, father; ES=Elizabeth Stone, mother; TS=brother Timothy Stone, b. 1768; SS=herself, Sarah/Sally b. 1769; ES=brother Ebenezer Stone, b. 1773. Sally's mother had four children from her first marriage. Three were alive when Sally was born, though one son died when she was eight, before the sampler was made. Only her father's children, however, are represented on the sampler; the two half-siblings are omitted.

Place Made
United States CONNECTICUT New Haven Co. Guilford

Signatures/Marks
ABCDEFGHIKLMN
OPQRSTUVWXYZ
CDIMNOQTVW
abcdefghiklmnopqrfst
uvwxyz&12345678
9 SALLY STONE
HER SAMPLER MAR
KED IN THE MONTH
OF OCTOBER IN THE Y
EAR 17869 10 23 A
RSESTS*SSES4