Sampler by Rebecah Janney

Date1786 (dated)

Artist/Maker Rebecah Janney (1776-1817)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Alexandria or Loudoun County

MediumSilk and wool embroidery threads on a linen ground of 25 warps x 25 wefts per inch (fiber identification by binocular microscope in textile lab)

DimensionsOH 18 1/2" x OW 17 7/8"

Credit LinePurchased with gift funds from Mr. & Mrs. Charles T. Freeman

Object number1998-160

DescriptionThis is an almost square needlework sampler worked in shades of red, pink, green, ivory, gold, and black embroidery threads on a darkened linen ground fabric. The sampler has selvedges at sides and a 1/4" hem at top and bottom. The hem is worked in an unusual hem stitch creating an open work design at top and bottom. A large arcaded flower, bud, and vine border worked in wool threads encloses sampler on all four sides.
The top half of the sampler consists of a poem enclosed within a square reserve of three rows of queen stitch; realistically worked flowers extend from all four corners of the square. In the bottom left corner of the square is a figure of a man and dog; in the bottom right corner is a figure of a woman and dog. An undulating band of strawberries and three- lobed motifs divides the two verses of the poem. The poem reads, "FEW are thy days and full of woe/ O man of woman born/ thy doom is writen [sic] dust thou art/ and shalt to dust return/ Determin,d [sic] are the days [s is reversed] that fly/ Successive o'er thy head/ the number'd hour is on the wing/ that lays thee with the dead." Encircling the square are scattered motifs of angels, dogs, a lion, vases of flowers, eight-pointed stars, and birds.
The bottom portion of the sampler consists of the signature line, "Rebecah Janney/ in her tenth year / 1786" enclosed in a rectangle of two rows of cross stitch. A large bird is perched above this and to either side are large sprays of realistically worked flowers. All but the border is worked in silk threads.

Stitches: cross (over 1 and 2), eyelet, hem, outline or stem, queen, satin.
Label TextMany American samplers were originally stitched in colorful silk embroidery threads. This sampler also has wool threads in the large arcaded flower, bud, and vine border. The uncommon use of wool embroidery threads occurs on several late eighteenth-century samplers produced in northern Virginia, suggesting the influence of one teacher. It is possible that nine-year-old Rebecah worked her sampler under the tutelage of Christian Smith, who advertised her day and boarding school as being located next to the store owned by Joseph Janney, Rebecah's father. The verse that Rebecah stitched onto her sampler is excerpted from the Book of Job, chapter 14.
Rebecah was the seventh of ten children born to Joseph and Hannah Jones Janney, members of the large well-known Quaker family of Janneys who came to northern Virginia from Pennsylvania around 1750. Rebecah was a member of the Fairfax Monthly Meeting from which she was disowned in 1799 when she married John Lloyd, a non-Quaker. She died in 1817 after the birth of her eighth child.
Inscribed"FEW are thy days and full of woe/ O man of woman born/ thy doom is writen dust thou art/ and shalt to dust return/ Determin,d [sic] are the days [s is reversed] that fly/ Successive o'er thy head/ the number'd hour is on the wing/that lays thee with the dead"
ProvenanceSampler was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe of Fauquier County, Virginia, prior to sale to CWF by vendor.

History of Maker:
Rebecah Janney was a member of the well-known Quaker family of Janneys who settled in northern Virginia from Pennsylvania during the mid-eighteenth century. Born August 14, 1776, she was the 7th of 10 children of Joseph and Hannah Jones Janney. She and her family were members of the Fairfax monthly meeting in Loudoun County, Virginia. On November 30, 1798, she married out of unity (in other words a non-Quaker) John Lloyd. The following May, Rebecah was disowned by the society for her marriage out of unity. In 1809, she was accepted and reinstated into the society. John Lloyd had joined her father's business of importing European goods by 1809. Rebecah died in 1817 after giving birth to her eighth child.
Rebecah's older sister, Hannah , worked a similar sampler in 1785. Hannah worked upon it a verse "On Education" which "one might almost feel... was truly prophetic on her part, for later she became the mother of Johns Hopkins, who founded the University which bears his name."