Images(3)

Needlework Memorial to Avis Moore

Date1826

Maker Susan E. Wheeler (b. 1813)

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Concord (probably)

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground with ink and paper embellishments (fiber identification by eye) Wooden frame and glass

DimensionsFramed: OW 23” x OH 19 3/8” Actual (by sight): OW 20 5/8” x OH 17”

Credit LineGift of Beatrix T. Rumford

Object number2020.604.1

DescriptionThis is a framed, rectangular needlework mourning picture worked in shades of peach, yellow, green, brown, and black silk embroidery threads with ink and paper embellishments. The picture consists of a large weeping willow with a single male mourner wearing a black suit, shoes, and hat, holding a walking stick and standing next to a stylized grave. To the left of the weeping willow is a flowering vine; another vine grows up the tree. The tree, male figure, and grave rest on a lawn of green grass. A paper card containing an inked inscription is stitched onto the tomb: “Sacred to the Memory/ of/ Mrs. Avis Moore wife of Capt./ Robert Moore and Daughter of Joshua/ and Lois Stearns of Waltham./ Who DIED on her/ passage to Savanna [sic] June 3 1819./ Aged Twenty Eight. Years./ Far from her Native Home, on distant wave,/ Which Heaven designed to be her Grave,/ Her Dreams of joy and Beauty’s Bloom,/ Lie slumbering in a Watery TOMB”. The entire scene is enclosed on three sides by a sawtooth border. On either side of this border, flowering vines grow from the green lawn, forming another border along the sides and top. The signature block, which is positioned in the center above the sawtooth border, interrupts the progress of the two vines. The signature reads: “Susan E Wheeler/ Et 13 years 1826”. All of the elements, except the male mourner and the inscription, are embroidered. The sides are worked with a hem stitch.
Stitches: cross, hem outline, stem, satin (long and short), French knot
Label TextSusan Elvira Wheeler (b. 1813) worked this needlework picture in 1826 in honor of her maternal aunt, Avis Stearns Moore (1788-1819). Avis had died seven years earlier on a ship travelling to Savannah. The lone male figure standing next to the tomb is presumably Avis’s husband, Robert Moore (1787-1820), who died just over a year after his wife. This needlework picture was not the only way Susan’s family memorialized Avis Moore’s untimely death. On July 8, 1819, Susan’s mother gave birth to a girl named Avis Moore Wheeler.
Inscribed“Sacred to the Memory/ of/ Mrs. Avis Moore wife of Capt./ Robert Moore and Daughter of Joshua/ and Lois Stearns of Waltham./ Who DIED on her/ passage to Savanna [sic] June 3 1819./ Aged Twenty Eight. Years./ Far from her Native Home, on distant wave,/ Which Heaven designed to be her Grave,/ Her Dreams of joy and Beauty’s Bloom,/ Lie slumbering in a Watery TOMB”
ProvenanceThe first recorded owner of this memorial was Mary M. Andrews of Providence, Rhode Island. The sampler then came into the possession of Marika's Antiques in Boston, Massachusetts, where Beatrix T. Rumford purchased it. In 2020, Ms. Rumford donated the picture to Colonial Williamsburg.

History of Maker:
Susan Elvira Wheeler (b. 1813) was born to Francis Wheeler (b. 1780) and Susanna Stearns (b. 1786) on March 8, 1813 in Concord, Massachusetts. In 1846, she married Henry Bemis Stone (1808-1853) and together they had one child, Henry Francis (1849-1889).

History of Subject:
Avis Stearns Moore (1788-1819) was born to Joshua Stearns (1748-1822) and Lois Pierce (1754-1818) on August 15, 1788. She married Robert Moore (1787-1820) in 1813 in Waltham, Massachusetts. She died on June 3, 1819.