Images(4)

Sampler, Family Record by Elizabeth Sarah Gunter

DateFebruary 20, 1845 (dated)

Artist/Maker Elizabeth Sarah Gunter (1834-1908)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Accomack County

MediumSilk and wool embroidery threads on a cotton ground of 30 x 31 per inch (fiber identification by Textile Lab)

DimensionsOH: 25 1/4" x OW: 18 1/2"

Credit LinePurchased with partial funds from "Jeannine's Sampler Seminar, 1997" (Funds also donated by Deborah A. Novak, Devorah Bishop, and Dawn Bradford.)

Object number1997-71

DescriptionThis is a large rectangular needlework sampler worked in shades of green, gold, red, blue, tan, pink, and brown silk and wool embroidery threads on a cotton ground. The sampler is hemmed at top, bottom and left side. There is a selvage with red thread at right side.
The top quarter of sampler consists of:
Band of cross stitch
Zigzag band in cross stitch that mimics Irish stitch
Band of double row of cross stitch
"Elizabeth Sarah Gunter's Work February 20th 1845" in cross stitch
Vine and bud band in cross stitch
"A-I K-U" upper case script in cross stitch
"V-Z" upper case script, "a-i" "k-z" " lower case block, "&" "1-8" in cross stitch
Band of four-sided stitch
The center section of the sampler consists of a "Family Register" divided in to columns by "Names" Births" "Marrages"[sic] and "Deaths." Recorded in the family register are:
Names Births Marrages[sic] Deaths
Joseph Gunter August 19 May 12 1828 October 6 1840
Mahala J Sturgis May 3 1808 May 12 1828
Benjamin T Gunter January 18 1831
Elizabeth S Gunter November 24 1834
Zorobabel C Laws January 27 1800 October 12 1842
Mahala J Gunter October 12 1842 November 30 1843
Joseph G Laws November 30 1843
A band of queen's stitch divides the family record from the bottom third of the sampler, which consists of a large red brick four-story building. The building has a cupola, six chimneys, six dormer windows, twenty-five windows, green shutters, front door, and side entrances. To either side of the building are green fences. There are unembroidered areas around the building suggesting that the sampler was never finished.

Stitches: cross, double cross, four-sided, and queen
Label TextProviding a wealth of genealogical information, family record or register samplers commemorate births, marriages, and deaths. They reflect an increased perception of family importance and a more openly affectionate nineteenth-century American family. Elizabeth Gunter recorded her parents' birth and marriage dates, her brothers' birth date, her own on November 24, 1834, and her father's death in 1840 on her large, stitched register. She also reported the second marriage of her mother, Mahala J. Gunter, to Zorobabel Laws on October 12, 1842. Furthermore, the family register chronicles the birth of Elizabeth's half-brother, Joseph Laws, and her mother's death both on November 20, 1843.
Elizabeth's work is one of at least four family record samplers with similar formats that were created by schoolgirls who lived in Accomack County, Virginia.
InscribedSee description for family record inscriptions.
ProvenanceThere is no known provenance.

History of sampler maker:
Elizabeth Sarah Gunter (1834-1908) was born to Joseph Gunter (1791-1840) and Mahala J. Sturgis (1808-1843) on November 24, 1834. When she worked this sampler in 1845, she had lost both parents, her father on October 6, 1840, and her mother on November 30, 1843. Her mother likely died while giving birth to Elizabeth’s half-brother, Joseph Gunter Laws (1843-1885). Joseph’s father, Zorobabel Core Laws (b. 1800) had married Elizabeth’s mother on October 12, 1842. In addition to Joseph, Elizabeth had one other sibling, an older brother named Benjamin T. Gunter (1831-1898). Elizabeth married Thomas C. Pitts (1826-1901) on March 3, 1853. She died on March 18, 1908 and is buried in Onancock, Virginia.

Colonial Williamsburg also owns a sampler worked by Elizabeth Martha Jane Sturgis, the half-sister of Mahala J. Sturgis, and the aunt of Elizabeth Sarah Gunter.