Images(3)

Sampler by Sarah Folger

Date1820

Maker Sarah Folger (1808-1871)

MediumSilk and crinkled silk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 30 x 30 threads per inch (fiber identification by eye)

DimensionsOH: 17 1/2 x OW: 17

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2005-16,1

DescriptionThis is a square needlework sampler worked in shades of pink, green, red, black, blue, rust, yellow, tan, and ivory silk embroidery threads on a natural color linen ground. The sampler is hemmed at sides in a 3/16" hem and has selvages at top and bottom.
The top border of the sampler consists of a large swag of realistically worked undulating flowers and leaves. Below this is a sawtooth band of eyelet, chain, and satin stitches and an upper case block alphabet worked in eyelet stitches. Below this is a partial upper case script alphabet "A-I" "K-R" worked in cross stitches.

The second half of the top portion of the sampler consists of the verse: "When beauty's charms decay as soon they must/ And all its glories humble in the dust,/ The virtuous mind beyond the reach of time/ Shall ever blossom in a happier clime [sic]./ Where never fading joys no tongue can tell,/ Where everlasting youth and beauty dwell." To the left of the verse are the upper case script letters "S T U V" positioned one above the other. To the right of the verse are the upper case script letters "W X Y Z" positioned one above the other.

The bottom half the sampler consists of a centered large urn with cascading vines and flowers and topped with symmetrically arranged vines, flowers, and birds. To the left of the urn is a woven basket of flowers on a plinth made up of a half geometric Quaker medallion. Below the plinth is the signature "Sarah Folger" in black silk cross stitches. To the right of the urn is a basket of flowers on a plinth made up of a half geometric Quaker medallion. Below the plinth is the inscription "Cincinnati 1820."
The bottom border of the sampler consists of a sawtooth border of four rows of satin, eyelet, and double cross stitches. The side borders of the sampler are undulating vines of strawberries and leaves worked in queen, cross, and chain stitches.

Stitches: buttonhole, chain, cross (over 1 and 2), double cross, eyelet, queen, and satin

Label TextSarah Folger worked two samplers, which show the progression of needlework skills that young girls learned by first working a simple alphabet sampler and then a more complicated one with intricate stitches and designs. Her practice piece is marked "Springfield" for the Springfield Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends, founded in 1818 and located in Clinton County near Wilmington, Ohio. Sarah's 1820 sampler illustrates quite an improvement in her needlework skills, as seen in multicolor plinths holding woven baskets of flowers. The plinths are actually half-geometric medallions, a hallmark of Quaker samplers, usually worked in black or brown threads.

Originally from Nantucket, Massachusetts, the Folger family was in Ohio by 1814. Members of the Society of Friends, they were listed among the founding families of the Cincinnati Monthly Meeting. Sarah was the seventh child of Tristram and Mary Folger. She was disowned from the Cincinnati Monthly Meeting in 1830 after she married Rufus Crane, a non-Quaker, in 1829. The couple had seven children between 1830 and 1849. Sarah died of consumption on May 22, 1871, in Cincinnati. Her two samplers, along with a sister's sampler, several pieces of unfinished needlework, family bibles, and memory books probably descended through Sarah's daughters. The group of related objects provide a rare glimpse into the lives of a nineteenth-century family, and illustrate the importance placed on needlework and the education of children.
Inscribed"When beauty's charms decay as soon they must/ And all its glories humble in the dust,/ The virtuous mind beyond the reach of time/ Shall ever blossom in a happier clime [sic]./ Where never fading joys no tongue can tell,/ Where everlasting youth and beauty dwell"

ProvenanceThis sampler marked "Sarah Folger Cincinnati 1820" is part of a group of samplers and books that descended in the Folger-Crane family of Cincinnati, Ohio. The sampler maker was Sarah Folger (b. July 11, 1808; d. 1871) seventh child of Tristram (b. 1772; d. Oct. 15, 1815) and Mary Folger (b. 1773; d. 1823). The Folger family, originally from Nantucket, Massachusetts, was in Ohio by 1814. Members of the Society of Friends, they are first listed in Hinshaw's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN QUAKER GENEALOGY, Vol. V, as transferring to the Miami Monthly Meeting in Warren County, then on to Cincinnati, where they were listed among the founding families of the Cincinnati Monthly Meeting (set apart from Miami MM on March 23, 1814).

Sarah Folger married Rufus Crane on May 14, 1829. Because Sarah married out of unity (contrary to Quaker discipline) she was disowned from the Cincinnati Monthly Meeting in 1830. The Cranes moved for several years to Cambridge City, Indiana. Sometime between 1836 and 1843, they returned to Hamilton Country, Ohio. Sarah and Rufus Crane had seven children born between 1830 and 1849, the last three being born after their return to Cincinnati. Rufus Crane died on April 8, 1861 of "laryngites", and is interred in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. Sarah died of consumption on May 22, 1871 in Cincinnati.

The samplers, family bibles, and books probably descended through Sarah's daughters.