Vigo County Historical Society

Samplers provided basic needlework skills for young women

We marvel as we look at the sample that is today’s Historical Treasure, not only because of its arrangement and hundreds of intricate stitches, but because it was made in the 1820s by a girl 11 years old.

The framed sample is counter cross stitch done with silk thread on linen. It has a wide border of upright and inverted floral arrangements connected by a vine. Throughout the sampler in soft shades that have withstood many years are trees, birds, floral arrangements in urns and baskets and deer, all typical of the time period.

A verse has been embroidered on either side. One says:

There is a land of pure delights
Where saints immortal reign
Eternal day excludes the night
And pleasures banish pain.

The other verse is quoted as:

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood
Stand dress’d in living green
So to the Jews old Cannan stood
While Jordan rolled between.

In the center, this young girl has put her signature.

Susannah Ray Work
done in the 11th year of her age 1820

While samplers were made earlier, the practice of signing and dating them was not common until about 1600. The earliest known signed sample can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and is dated 1598 and signed Jane Bostocke.

The making of a sampler was considered a basic needlework skill for young women during the 1700s and 1800s. Events in the maker’s life, such as marriage dates and names of children, were often chronicled. A balanced layout was favored.

When finished, the sampler was framed and displayed as proof of the maker’s skill and as decorative objects in their own right. They are now treasured and much sought after.

This lovely sampler was purchased in 1972 in Kentucky by Mrs. Hermine Haslem and given to the Historical Museum. Information about this specific sampler’s history is not known.