Sampler by Elizabeth Davis

Date1798

Maker Elizabeth Davis

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (probably)

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 34 x 28 per inch, glass, wood, and brass hanging ring (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsFramed: OH 20 1/4" x OW: 20" Actual (by sight): OH: 17" x OW: 17"

Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Vance Van Doren

Object number2019-67

DescriptionThis is a framed square memorial sampler made by Elizabeth Davis in 1798. It is worked in faded shades of gold, cream, blue, green, brown, and black colored silk embroidery threads on a natural color linen ground. The top portion of the sampler is formatted in bands. From the top the sampler consists of:
Undulating flower and vine band worked in cross stitch.
Narrow alternating brick band worked in satin stitch.
“AaBb-Hh” “IiJ” “Kk-Ss” block worked in cross stitch.
“Tt-U” “Vv-Zz” “&”, diamond motif, and numerals “1-17" block worked in cross stitch.
“Aa-Hh” “IiJ” “Kk-Tt” “Vv-Zz”, “&", diamond motif, and numerals "18-23” block, worked in cross stitch.
Blue sawtooth band worked in satin stitch.
Row of eleven crowns worked in cross stich.
Sawtooth band worked in satin stitch.
Block upper case alphabet “A-I’ “K-Z”, “&”, diamond motif, numerals “1-5” worked in block stitch.
Undulating flower and vine band worked in cross stitch.
Hexagons, possibly feathers, in white and tan tones, worked in cross stitch.
Undulating flower and vine band worked in cross stitch.
Narrow alternating brick band worked in satin stitch.
The bottom portion of the sampler consists of verses and bands beginning with the inscription worked in black cross stitch: “Sacred To The Memory Of My Father John Davis Who Departed This/Life September The 12th 1797 Aged 35 Years With The Malignant Fever”. Next is a narrow alternating brick band worked in black satin stitches. Below this is the inscription worked in black cross stitches: “My Friends Forbear To Mourn And Weep My Change Is For The Best/For Wilst On Earth I Near Was Well But Now I Am At Rest” followed by a curly, black line. Below this inscription is another alternating brick band in black satin stitches. Following this is the signature line in cross stitch: “Elizabeth Davis her Sampler Finished In The 13th Year of her Age & in 1798”. Below this is a small sawtooth band in satin stitch, followed by the inscription in cross stitch: ”But Let Us hasten To The Day Which Shall Our Flesh Restore When/Death Shall All Be Done away and Bodies Part No More". This inscription is followed by a diamond motif. Next is a thin band of cross stitch worked in blue embroidery threads. Following this band is the verse "Love The Lord and he Shall Be A Tender Father Unto Thee”. To the right of this inscription are three trees. Below this is an alternating brick band in satin stitches, followed by an undulating vine and flower band.

Stitches: cross over one and two, satin, eyelet
Label TextThis sampler is an early example of mourning needlework; most examples of this genre were produced after George Washington's death in 1799. Elizabeth Davis stitched this sampler in honor of her father, John Davis, in 1798. John Davis had died a year earlier, in 1797, of yellow fever, which Elizabeth records in her sampler as the "Malignant Fever".

Although her father was a Quaker, Elizabeth Davis chose to incorporate the verse "But Let Us Haste To The Day" from a hymn authored by a Methodist, Charles Wesley. Elizabeth also chose to incorporate the verse "My Friends Forbear to Mourn", which is commonly found on gravestones of this period.

This sampler includes several motifs that are unique for the time and place in which it was made. The inclusion of crowns, which are very rare on American samplers made after the American Revolution, and the hexagonal feathers or leaves set this sampler apart from others produced in Pennsylvania during the late eighteenth century.
Inscribed“Sacred To The Memory Of My Father John Davis Who Departed This/Life September The 12th 1797 Aged 35 Years With The Malignant Fever"

“My Friends Forbear To Mourn And Weep My Change Is For The Best/For Wilst On Earth I Near Was Well But Now I Am At Rest”

“Elizabeth Davis her Sampler Finished In The 13th Year of her Age & in 1798”

"But Let Us hasten To The Day Which Shall Our Flesh Restore When/Death Shall All Be Done away and Bodies Part No More"

"Love The Lord and he Shall Be A Tender Father Unto Thee”.
ProvenanceThis sampler descended from the maker, Elizabeth Davis Ellis (d. 1859) to her daughter, Elizabeth Ann Ellis Shuster (1812-1885), to her daughter, Elizabeth Davis Shuster Goorley (1837-1912), to her son, Thomas Shuster Goorley (1865-1940), to his daughter, Elizabeth Shuster Goorley Hoover (1898-1982), to her daughter, Elizabeth Roberta Hoover McHenry (1925-2017), to her daughter, Nancy Beth McHenry Van Doren (b. 1953).

History of Maker:
Elizabeth Davis was born about 1784 in Pennsylvania to John and Elizabeth Davis. She married Thomas Ellis and died on November 16, 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.