Images(3)

Sampler by Catharine Deal

Date1825

Maker Catharine Deal (July 1st, 1811-1900)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Augusta County, Waynesboro

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 52 x 52 per inch (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsOH: 10 1/8 in. x OW: 12 in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2019-60

DescriptionThis is a small rectangular family record sampler formatted in a compartmental design. It consists of a verse by Isaac Watts that reads, "Behold the wretch whose/Lust and wine had wasted his/Estate he beg a share amongst/The swine to taste the husks/They eat I die with hunger here/He cries I starve in forreign[sic]/Lands my fathers house has/Large supplies and bountious [sic]/Are his hands I'll go and with/A mournfull tongue fall down/Before his face father I have/Done thy Justice wrong nor/Can deserve thy grace he/Said and hasten'd to his father/House to seek his father love/The father saw the rebel/Come and all his bowels move/He ran and fell upon his neck/Embraced and kissed his son/The rebels heart with sorrow/Brake for father he abandon/Take of his colthes [sic] of shame/And sin the father give mens/Command dress him in gar/White and clean with rings/Adorn his hands A day of X/Feasting I ordain let merth/And joy abound my son was/Dead and lives again was/Lost and now is found." This verse takes up the majority of the sampler and is divided into two columns. On the bottom left are family member names, reading, "John Deal/Ellin Deal/George Deal/Samuel Deal/Henry Deal." Next to this, in the middle of the bottom of the sampler, is a box containing the maker's signature, reading, "Catharine DealS/Sample work.d with/MrS Keturah Gregs[?]/December 7th/1825." This is flanked by two flowers in vases. On the other side of this signature box, on the lower right side, are more family names, reading, "Sarah R Deal/Mary J Deal/Ellin A Deal/K D X."

The sampler is enclosed in an arcaded border of buds and leaves on all four sides. It is hemmed on all sides.

Stitches: cross, satin

Label TextCatharine Deal, who completed this sampler on December 7th, 1825 in Waynesboro, Virginia, stitched a popular Isaac Watts verse and the names of her family members. Catharine embroidered her parents' names, followed by the six siblings who were born by the time she finished her sampler. The compartmentalization of the text on the sampler resembles contemporaneous Pennsylvania examples.
Inscribed"Behold the wretch whose/Lust and wine had wasted his/Estate he beg a share amongst/The swine to taste the husks/They eat I die with hunger here/He cries I starve in forreign [sic]/Lands my fathers house has/Large supplies and bountious [sic]/Are his hands I'll go and with/A mournfull [sic] tongue fall down/Before his face father I have/Done thy Justice wrong nor/Can deserve thy grace he/Said and hasten'd to his father/House to seek his father love/The father saw the rebel/Come and all his bowels move/He ran and fell upon his neck/Embraced and kissed his son/The rebels heart with sorrow/Brake for father he abandon/Take of his colthes [sic] of shame/And sin the father give mens/Command dress him in gar/White and clean with rings/Adorn his hands A day of X/Feasting I ordain let merth/And joy abound my son was/Dead and lives again was/Lost and now is found"

"John Deal/Ellin Deal/George Deal/Samuel Deal/Henry Deal"

"Sarah R Deal/Mary J Deal/Ellin A Deal/K D X"
Markings"K D X"
ProvenancePurchased from Bill and Joyce Subjack, who purchased the piece from a Kentucky dealer who obtained the sampler from a Kentucky collection.

HISTORY OF MAKER:
Catherine Deal (spelled "Catharine" on the sampler) was born on July 1st, 1811 in Virginia to John Deal (born November 7th, 1782 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, died on June 19th, 1856 in McLean County, Illinois) and Eleanor "Ellen" Imboden (born on October 29th, 1789 in Pennsylvania). Her father was a tanner and her parents married on September 13th, 1810 in Augusta County, Virginia. Catherine was the eldest child. Her younger siblings were George Washington (December 4th, 1812, Waynesboro, Virginia-December 30th, 1884, Mt. Leonard, Missouri), Samuel Chesterfield (October 28th, 1815, Waynesboro-January 25th, 1904), Henry J. (born October 13th, 1817 in Virginia), Sarah R. (January 28th, 1820, Waynesboro-January 30th, 1897, McLean County), Mary Jane (March 28th, 1822, Waynesboro-April 10th, 1902, McLean County), Ellen (Eleanor) Ann (born April 26th, 1824, Virginia), John A. (November 21st, 1826, Waynesboro-October 31st, 1875), Margaret E. (born February 5th, 1829, Augusta County, Virginia), Ida (September 30th, 1835-January 11th, 1886), Rebecca (born September 30th, 1833, Virginia), and Jane A. (July 2nd, 1836, Virginia-died before 1910).

On August 12th, 1833 in Augusta County, Virginia, Catherine married David R. Rusmisel (born in 1808 in Virginia, died in 1860). The pair had 12 children. They are John (born 1834), William C. (born 1835 in Virginia), Eleanor A. (born 1837 in Virginia), George W. (born about 1838 in Indiana), John L. (born about 1839 in Virginia), Julius W. (born about 1842 in Virginia), Mary Frances (born 1844 in Virginia), Sarah C. (born 1846 in Virginia), Martha P. (born 1848 in Virginia), an unknown child (born 1850 in Illinois), Samuel D. (born 1853 in Illinois), and Henry L. (born March 1855 in Illinois). The 1850 census lists David as a tanner. Catherine died in 1900. Catherine and David are both buried in West Twin Grove Cemetery, Dry Grove, Illinois.