Sampler by Martha Delk

Date1829

Maker Martha Delk (1817 - 1841)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Isle of Wight County

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 30 x 32 threads per inch in a wooden frame (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsFramed: OW: 19 1/2" x OH: 20" Sampler by sight: OW: 17 5/8" x OW: 18 1/4"

Credit LineGift of Norris Barnard Collins in loving memory of his parents Frank Rives Berryman Collins and Marcia Wilson Collins

Object number2020-138

DescriptionThis is an almost square sampler worked in faded shades of green, brown, cream, and yellow silk embroidery threads on a natural color linen ground. From the top the sampler consists of:
“A-T” uppercase block, cross over 2
Decorative double band of double cross stitch
“U-Z” uppercase block; “WD OD JD JD WD MD” cross over 2
The center portion of the sampler consists of a large three-story house with two chimneys, seven open windows, and two doors. The house is flanked by tall evergreen trees worked in a counted chain stitch and a fence worked in four-sided stitch. The initials “JC” appear to the left of the rooftop and the initials “MC” are to the right of the rooftop.
Below the house is the verse: “I sign not for beauty nor languish for wealth/ But grant me, kind Providence virtue and health/ Then richer than kings and as happy as they, My days shall pass sweetly and swiftly away.” The initials “UD,” “LD,” and “ED” run vertically along the left side of the verse. The initials “AD,” “VC,” and “TC” run vertically along the right side of the verse.
Below the verse is the memorial inscription and signature: “Wiley Delk died December 5th 1820” “Martha Delk finished her Sampler May 21st / 1829.”
The sampler is enclosed on all four sides in a wide naturalistic border of floral and leaf vine.

Stitches: cross over 1 and 2, counted chain, double cross, four-sided

Label TextIn 1829, Martha Delk worked this sampler as a memorial to her deceased father, Wiley Delk, who had died nine years earlier on December 5th, 1820. Martha, just three when her father died, was one of two sets of twins born to Wiley and Martha (Patsy) Wrenn Delk of Isle of Wight, Surry, and Southampton Counties, Virginia. Included on her sampler are sets of initials identified as siblings and other family members. The most prominent initials, J.C. and M.C., which flank the chimneys, represent her stepfather, Joseph Cofer, and her mother, Martha Delk Cofer. Interestingly, Martha’s youngest sister, Unity A. Delk, worked a similar sampler in 1834. Her stepsister, Elizabeth Cofer, also stitched a similar sampler, however Elizabeth’s piece commemorates the death of her mother and Martha’s stepmother, Jerusha Cofer.
Martha’s finished sampler is worked in silk threads on a linen ground of 30 x 32 threads per inch and measures about 18 inches high by 17 ½” wide. She used typical sampler stitches such as cross, double cross, eyelet, and four-sided except in the trees. Here she used a counted chain stitch that gives the trees a very different appearance.
The sampler descended in the family where it was lovingly hung on a wall for all to see and admire. Over the years the silk embroidery threads faded and today where there was once pink or red, we see only cream.

Inscribed"OW OD JD JD WD MD"
"JC" "MC"
“I sign not for beauty nor languish for wealth/ But grant me, kind Providence virtue and health/ Then richer than kings and as happy as they, My days shall pass sweetly and swiftly away.”
The initials “UD,” “LD,” and “ED” run vertically along the left side of the verse. The initials “AD,” “VC,” and “TC” run vertically along the right side of the verse.
MarkingsIn ink on cardboard backing of sampler:
"I sigh not for beauty nor languish for wealth/ But grant me, kind Providence virtue & Health/ Then richer than kings and as happy as they/ My days shall pass sweetly and swiftly away."
"Wiley Delk died Dec 8, 1820/ Martha Delk finished her sampler May 21 1820"
In pencil on cardboard backing of sampler:
"Martha Wrenn married Wiley Delk--first--second Josiah [scratched through] Joseph Cofer. her daughter / Martha Delk married Col. Benjamin Gwaltney and Pembroke Decatur Gwaltney their / eldest son married Martha Virginia Harris,--They had three children Nellie Rind / Pembroke Decator Jr. and Cora Virginia, -- Nellie married John E. Maxwell and lives / in Norfolk Va. -- Pembroke D. married Estelle Darden, and Cora Virginia married/ Frank Rives Berryman -- the last two have homes in Smithfield. All of the / children of Martha Delk and Benjamin Gwaltney except Pembroke Decator / Died without marrying and of early age. --"
"Josiah Wrenn -- d. c. 1800 Isle of Wight father/ of Martha (Patsy) Wrenn./ Joseph Cofer Married (1) Jerusha Lancaster/ (2) / Martha Wrenn Delk"
In pencil, large: "1786" over "3" and an indecipherable initial
ProvenanceThe sampler descended from the sampler maker, Martha Delk Gwaltney, to her son, Pembroke Decator, Jr., to his daughter, Cora Virginia Gwaltney Berryman, to her daughter, Virginia Ridley Berryman Collins, to her son and daughter-in-law, Frank Rives Berryman Collins and Marcia Wilson Collins, to their son, Norris Barnard Collins, who donated the sampler to the museum in 2020.

History of sampler maker:
Martha Delk (1817-1841) was the daughter of Wiley Jones Delk (11/21/1779-12/5/1820) and Martha (Patsy) Wren Delk Cofer (b. 1784- (will recorded 4/4/1853) of Isle of Wight, Surry, and Southampton Counties, Virginia. She and her twin brother Wiley Jones Delk, Jr., were the second set of twins born to their parents, for whom they were named. Martha married Col. Benjamin Gwaltney and they had at least one child, Pembroke Decator Gwaltney.