Sampler by Mary Webb

Date1760 (dated)

Maker Mary Webb (1747-1833)

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

MediumSilk embroidery threads on a linen ground of 38 x 54 threads per inch (Identification of fibers by eye)

DimensionsOverall (H x W): 17 1/4 x 16 1/8in. (43.8 x 41cm) 38 x 54 threads per inch

Credit LineGift of Miss Beatrix T. Rumford

Object number2008-134

DescriptionThis square, compartmentalized sampler is worked in multiple shades of red, yellow, green, and blue. The main body of the sampler is separated into nine sections (three blocks over three) and surrounded by an inner and outer border.

The first square (top right) has a vine of five, star-shaped flowers with pointed petals. The flowers are mostly worked in shades of yellow, with one flower outlined in blue.

The second compartment (top center) shows a verse worked in cross stitch. The first letter of every word is yellow while the rest of the word is blue. It reads, “Let us my Friend all peevish self with[stand]/And in the meekness of the Spotless lamb/Lead one another gently by the Hand/And travel forward to the Holy Land,/Where the Redeemed on Mount Zion/Stand, With Harps of living praise in --/their Hands.” Five yellow diamonds are satin stitched after the verse.

The third compartment (top right) has a yellow, round flower, perhaps a chrysanthemum, along with some buds and leafs.

The first compartment of the second row (center right) bears another verse stitched in the same manner as the one previous. It reads: “Oh if my Mind/should be inclin’d/This would increase my/lord from above ([sic]fear/thou god of love/Reveal thy counsel near/that I may know/that I may do/Thy ever blessed will/ah! Thine alone/and not mine own/Great King! Do thou fulfill.”

The compartment in the very center is the most ornate, showing a rose bush on a hill. Two roses are shown in full bloom with three additional buds.

The next compartment (center right) has another verse stitched in the same manner: “One look of mercy from thy [eye]/One whisper of thy voice/Exceed a whole Eternity/Employ’d in carnal joys/Could i the spacious earth/command O[r move the]/Boundless sea For one dear/Hour at thy right hand/I’d give them both away.” The verse is followed by five yellow diamonds worked in satin stitch.

The bottom left compartment contains a red carnation with buds and leafs.

The bottom center compartment contains a short verse worked in cross stitches with the first letter of every word in yellow and the rest of the letters in red. It reads, “Consider well some by pass days/On Former Times reflect/Had see if thou in all they ways/Are truly Circumspect.” The rest of the last line is filled with two yellow, satin stitched diamonds. The colors are reversed for the rest of the words in the compartment, with the first letter in red and rest in yellow. It reads, “joseph Webb Edith Webb HW/Mary Webb Her Work in the/Thirteenth year of her age 1760”

The final compartment (bottom right) has five red and yellow flowers of varying shapes.

The whole in surrounded by a thin border in a twisting ribbon motif in blue and yellow worked in satin stitches. An outer border surrounds that. It contains an undulating vine sprouting red and yellow carnations along the sides of the sampler and yellow tulips at each of the corners.

The sampler is attached at all edges to woven tape, which is nailed to a wooden mat.

STITCHES: Cross (over one and two) satin (vertical and horizontal), tent (or half-cross)

Label TextBeautifully executed, Mary Webb's sampler is divided into nine compartments consisting of verses and floral sprigs, with a deep arcaded border of delightful red and pink carnations with tulips in the corners. This popular Philadelphia sampler style is attributed to Ann Marsh, a premier needlework teacher in Philadelphia during the eighteenth century. The eldest child of Joseph and Edith Webb, on May 28th, 1771, Mary Webb (1747-1833) became the second wife of Joseph Updegraff, a Quaker hatter in York County, Pennsylvania. Mary's Bible and sampler descended through her family until they were given to Colonial Williamsburg. The family Bible records the birth and death dates of Mary, in addition to those of her seven children, and traces the descent of the sampler.
Inscribed“Let us my Friend all peevish self with[stand]/And in the meekness of the Spotless lamb/Lead one another gently by the Hand/And travel forward to the Holy Land,/Where the Redeemed on Mount Zion/Stand, With Harps of living praise in --/their Hands.”

“Oh if my Mind/should be inclin’d/This would increase my/lord from above (fear/thou god of love/Reveal thy counsel near/that I may know/that I may do/Thy ever blessed will/ah! Thine alone/and not mine own/Great King! Do thou fulfill.”

“One look of mercy from thy [eye]/One whisper of thy voice/Exceed a whole Eternity/Employ’d in carnal joys/Could i the spacious earth/command O[r move the]/Boundless sea For one dear/Hour at thy right hand/I’d give them both away.”

“Consider well some by pass days/On Former Times reflect/Had see if thou in all they ways/Are truly Circumspect.”

Markings"Joseph Webb Edith Webb HW/ Mary Webb Her Work in the/ Thirteenth year of her age 1760"
ProvenanceMade by Mary Webb (1747-1833), 1760;
By descent to her daughter, Mary Updegraff (1784-1850);
By descent to her daughter, Mary Gillingham (1825-1892);
By descent to her daughter, Mary Beatrix Tyson (1865-1962);
By descent to her granddaughter, Beatrix Tyson Rumford (b. 1939).

HISTORY OF SAMPLER MAKER:
Mary was the oldest of 3 daughters born to Joseph Webb (1722-1753) and Edith Way (1727-1772), who were married in 1746. Her father was a house carpenter in Philadelphia whose ledger for 1744-1753 is in the Downs Collection at Winterthur. Mary Webb (born April 2, 1747) made this sampler in 1760, and on May 28, 1771 married Joseph Updegraff (1726-1801), a hatter, at the York, PA Friends meeting. She died on February 23, 1833. The sampler was inherited by Mary, the sixth of the Updegraff’s seven children.