Images(2)

Sampler by Eliza. Folger

Dateca. 1810

Maker Eliza Folger (1799-1825)

OriginAmerica, Ohio (probably)

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 23 warps by 25 wefts per inch (identification of fibers by eye)

DimensionsOW: 6 5/8" x OH: 10 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2005-16,7

DescriptionThis is a small rectangular alphabet sampler worked in shades of blue, brown, red, yellow, rust, and green on a dark linen ground. Sampler is hemmed at top and sides with a 3/8-inch hem and has a selvage at bottom. From the top sampler consists of:
"A-J" upper case block in cross stitch
"K-T" upper case block in cross stitch
"U-Z" upper case block; isolated motif in cross, half cross, and outline
Band of cross stitch
"a-o" lower case block in cross stitch
"p-z" lower case block in cross stitch
Band of cross stitch
"A-G" upper case script in cross stitch
"H, I, K-M" upper case script in cross stitch
"N-S" upper case script in cross stitch
"T-W" upper case script in cross stitch
Band of cross stitch, which runs up right side of sampler
"X-Z" upper case script, "&", "1-4" in cross stitch
"Eliza. Folger" followed by band of cross stitch
Band of cross stitch

Stitches: cross, half cross, hem, outline
Label TextOften called marking samplers, schoolgirl sewing projects like this one provided an opportunity for young girls to practice stitching letters and numerals that they would later use to "mark" their family household linens with initials and numbers. This alphabet sampler marked "Eliza. Folger" is part of a group of samplers and books that descended in the Folger-Crane family of Cincinnati, Ohio. The sampler maker was Elizabeth Folger (b. May 30, 1799; d. Sept. 19, 1825) third child of Tristram (b. 1772; d. Oct. 15, 1815) and Mary Folger (b. 1773; d. 1823). Her 1825 death is lamented in a memory book that survives with this group of remarkable objects, "To the memory of my Sister/ Farewell sweet Saint no Cypress tree/ Shall shade thy urn, and weep for thee/ But angels shall surround thy tomb/ and deck it with perennial bloom."
ProvenanceThis alphabet sampler marked "Eliza. Folger" is part of a group of samplers and books that descended in the Folger-Crane family of Cincinnati, Ohio. The sampler maker was probably Elizabeth Folger (b. May 30, 1799; d. Sept. 19, 1825) third 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).

Elizabeth Folger married Henry Clark in 1824. She died on September 19, 1825. Elizabeth's younger sister, Sarah Folger, wrote the following in her memory book on September 28, 1826--possibly in memory of Elizabeth:

"To the memory of my Sister
Farewell sweet Saint no Cypress tree
Shall shade thy urn, and weep for thee
But angels shall surround thy tomb...
SF
Cincinnattii [sic] Sept 28th 1826"

Sarah Folger married Rufus Crane and the samplers, family bibles, and books probably descended through Sarah's daughters.