Sampler by Margaret Kerr

DateJanuary 26, 1828 (dated)

Artist/Maker Margaret Kerr Hogshead (1807 - 1869)

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 40 x 40 threads per inch with a paper and silk silhouette and hair border; cotton hem thread

DimensionsOH 12 3/4" x OW 9 7/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1989-112

DescriptionThis is a small, rectangular, mourning sampler worked in brown and black silk threads on a natural color linen ground. The top half of the sampler centers on a white, hollow-cut, paper silhouette which is placed over a black silk ground fabric. The outer edges of the paper and silk silhouette are embellished with a looped decorative border that consists of a dark brown silk core that has been wrapped with dark brown hair. The looped border is couched with brown silk to the linen ground fabric; at every other loop, the couching thread pierces the edges of the paper and silk silhouette. The following words border the silhouette: "Departed this life/ December 30th 1823/ Baily Kerr Aged 23 Years.." The name "Elijah Hogshead...” is stitched vertically to the right of the dedication to Baily Kerr. The name "Margaret Hogshead..." is stitched vertically to the left of the dedication to Baily Kerr.

The bottom half of the sampler consists of a poem: "A Tear/ The only gift I can bestow/ On a fond brothers love/ Torn from each others arms below/ May we both meet above/ It is our fate let us submit/ No helping hand is near/ Alas all help comes now too late/ Adieu accept a tear.../."

A dotted line separates the verse from the signature which is placed in the lower right corner: ".1828./ Margaret Kerr Jan 26t."

The sampler is enclosed on all four sides by a simple cross-stitch border; it is not hemmed on any sides.

Stitches: cross stitch (not consistent on back; carry over threads) and couching stitch (used to attach paper and silk silhouette with hair border to linen).
Label TextMargaret Kerr's sampler commemorates two life passages: the death of her brother, Baily Kerr, who died in 1823, and Margaret's own marriage to Elijah Hogshead in 1827.
Inscribed"Departed this life/ December 30th 1823/ Baily Kerr Aged 23 Years.."
"Elijah Hogshead...”
"Margaret Hogshead..."
"A Tear/ The only gift I can bestow/ On a fond brothers love/ Torn from each others arms below/ May we both meet above/ It is our fate let us submit/ No helping hand is near/ Alas all help comes now too late/ Adieu accept a tear.../."
".1828./ Margaret Kerr Jan 26t."
ProvenanceKurt C. Russ purchased the sampler several years ago in Mount Crawford, Virginia, at an auction by Jeff Evans. The sampler was advertised at the auction as an Augusta County piece. It had belonged to Miss Joyce Soldato of Augusta County, Virginia, who had purchased it from Ricky Simonetti, who had purchased it from an elderly lady in Staunton, where it had been stored in her family bible and had descended in her family. (The above is from a phone conservation with Mr. Russ on March 9, 1989.)

History of Maker:
Margaret Kerr (1807-1869) was born to William Kerr (1769-1828) and Mary Ann Grove (1780-1867) on June 28, 1807. She married Elijah Hogshead (1795-1875) in May 1828. Her brother, Bailey, to whom this sampler is dedicated, died on December 30, 1823. Margaret and Elijah had at least four children: David (1829-1883); Preston Baily (1833-1903); Margaret Catherine Hogsnead Randolph (1836-1857); John Marshall (1838-1844). Margaret died on December 16, 1869, and is buried in Middlebrook, Virginia.