Sampler by Emma Ransom

DateOctober 10, 1806 (dated)

Maker Emma Ransom

OriginAmerica, Connecticut, Hartford (possibly)

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a natural color linen ground of 27 x 24 threads per inch (identification of fibers by eye)

DimensionsFramed: OW: 12"; OL: 19". Unframed by sight: OW: 10 1/8" x OL: 17 3/8"

Credit LineGift of Ellin and Baron Gordon

Object number2003-167,A&B

DescriptionThis is a framed rectangular needlework sampler worked in faded shades of blue, green, ivory, rust orange, gold, and brown silk threads on a natural-colored linen ground. The sampler is hem stitched on all four sides. An undulating black cross-stitch border is on all four sides of the sampler. From the top the sampler consists of a band of cross stitch with letters "AA-M." Below this is a sawtooth band in cross stitch, followed by letters "N-Y." Next is a band in cross stitch and below that is "Z," "&," and numerals "1-10." Next is a band in eyelet stitch, followed by a band of lower case letters "a-r." Below this is another band in cross stitch, followed by lower case letters "s-z" and "1806." This is followed by another cross stitch band, which is followed by upper case, very faded letters "A-H." Below this is a band in cross stitch, and then upper case, faded letters "I-Q." Below this is another cross stitch band and then the continuation of the upper case, faded alphabet, letters "R-W." Below this is another cross stitch band and then the completion of the alphabet with letters "X-Z." Next to this is a crown motif. There is another cross stitch band followed by an inscription which reads, "Emma Ransom wrought this/ Sampler in the year 1806 at the age of/ 10 years October 10th."

The bottom portion of the sampler consists of a scene with a three-story house with two chimneys, trees, fences, and hill with an unidentified building.

Stitches: cross over one, cross over two, eyelet, and hem

Label TextEmma Ransom proudly tells she made this sampler when she was 10 years old and finished it on October 10th, 1806, stitching it onto her sampler. She also stitched a house, which was possibly her own, the building in which she learned how to stitch, or a building of her own imagination. Her sampler, with its many lines of alphabets, inscription, and house and landscape scene, is typical of 19th-century samplers.
Inscribed"1806"
"Emma Ransom wrought this/ Sampler in the year 1806 at the age of/ 10 years October 10th"
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceNo provenance other than donor is known.

Sampler maker:
Emma Ransom may be the individual born in Chatham, Connecticut, on January 2nd, 1797. If this is the correct sampler maker, she would have been not quite 10 years old, but just three months away, when she made her sampler in 1806. This Emma Ransom married Jesse Hall on February 2nd, 1830 in Hartford, Connecticut. The pair had a child, Emma Ransom Hall (1834-1915). Emma Ransom died on July 31st, 1885, in Hartford. She was a direct descendant of early settler Robert Ransom, who was in Plymouth colony by 1654.