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Sampler 2018-325
Sampler by Catharine Tucker
Sampler 2018-325

Sampler by Catharine Tucker

Dateca. 1825
Maker Catharine Tucker (181[?]-1885)
OriginAmerica, New York; owned in Bermuda
MediumSilk threads on a linen ground of 28 x 32 threads per inch (fiber identification by eye)
DimensionsOH: 12" x OW: 10"
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Edna G. Tucker and Ms. Wendy S. Tucker in memory of their husband and father, Edward Bolton "Teddy" Tucker, M.B.E.
Object number2018-325
DescriptionThis is an alphabet sampler made by Catharine Tucker, born according to her inscription, on November 18th, 18[?]. The sampler has three alphabets, the first all upper cased and large, the second smaller and upper case with diamonds between each letter, and the third spread out over two lines, with letters in a random order. Accompanying the second alphabet are numerals 1-20. The sampler also has an inscription which reads, "In love for evry fellow creature / Superior rise above the croud / What most ennobles human nature / Was ne er the Portion of the Proud. / Be thime the Generous heart that borrow / From other joy friendly Glory / And from each hapless neighbor woe / Throbs with a symPathetit woe." The inscription consists of numerous spelling mistakes and letters stitched backwards. At the bottom of the sampler the maker stitched, "CATHARINE / TUCKER born 18 nov/18[?]." The sampler is surrounded by several different borders, varying from zigzag to crosses. The sampler is stitched in blue, yellow, brown, dark green, and burnt sienna and consists entirely of cross stitch. An attached label in the bottom right corner reads, “circa 1816.”
Label TextSamplers played an important role in the education of young girls in the early nineteenth century for they were used to instruct in sewing and reinforce moral lessons. The poem on Catherine Tucker's sampler is "A Father's Advice to his Son" by John Gilbert Cooper, published in various books in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It encourages one to love thy fellow man and have the virtues of generosity and sympathy.

Catharine Tucker was the daughter of Richard Jennings Tucker (1775-1841) and Catharine Fitch Tucker (1783-1826) who were married at the Trinity Church in New York City on October 2, 1803. It is likely that Catharine was born in 1815 or 1816 and died in 1885 in New York. The sampler descended in the Tucker family until it was donated to the museum in 2018.
Inscribed"In love for evry fellow creature / Superior rise above the croud / What most ennobles human nature / Was ne er the Portion of the Proud. / Be thime the Generous heart that borrow / From other joy friendly Glory / And from each hapless neighbor woe / Throbs with a symPathetit woe."
MarkingsAn attached label in the bottom right corner reads, “circa 1816.”
ProvenanceThe sampler descended from the sampler maker, Catherine Tucker (d. 1885, daughter of Richard Jennings Tucker and Catharine Fitch Tucker); to her nieces (daughters of Frances Fitch Tucker, 1814-1894) Sarah Victoria Tucker (1837-1925) and Catharine Tucker (1832-1878) and the estate of Sarah Victoria; to Sarah Victoria's nieces (daughters of Robert Richard Jennings Tucker, 1842-1930), Catharine Fitch Tucker (b. 1879) and Ethel Tucker (b. 1874); to their nephew Edward "Teddy' Bolton Tucker (1925-2015); to Wendy S. Tucker.

History of sampler maker:
Catharine Tucker was the daughter of Richard Jennings Tucker (1775-1841) and Catharine Fitch Tucker (1783-1826) who were married at the Trinity Church in New York City on October 2, 1803. It is likely that Catharine was born in 1815 or 1816 and died in 1885 in New York.