Sampler

Period1803

MediumPlied silk thread on linen

DimensionsSight: 8.63 × 8.63 in. (21.9 × 21.9 cm)

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineBequest of Miss Elizabeth Ellis Bowne, 1945

Object number2061.1

DescriptionA small square sampler on tightly woven natural linen ground is worked in plied silk threads in shades of black, brown, dark green, pale blue, and cream white. Stitches include cross, long-armed cross, Algerian eyelet, and satin. Worked in the upper portion of the sampler are three alphabets including a small half-inch upper case alphabet ending with an ampersand and numerals one through 14, a large 3/4 inch upper case alphabet, and a small 3/8 inch lower case alphabet. Below the alphabets the family inscription reads in column format "Hendrick Smock / Sarah Smock / IS ES AS SS GS / JS AS HS / Jane Smocks work wrought in the / 12th year of her age in the year of / our Lord 1803." The "e" of the word "the" is worked quite small in order to fit into the line. Small decorative linear bands run between alphabet and inscription lines. A narrow single cross stitch border edges the small sampler.
Curatorial RemarksJane Smock's sampler relies on its simplicity and careful stitching for its engaging charm. At the age of twelve, Jane chose to incorporate a brief family record within her sampler, listing her father and mother as well as the initials of her siblings and herself. Jane may have been taught sewing and needlework at a local day school along with reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. Her needlework reveals the actual purpose of sampler making at its most basic. Once grown, with families of their own, women sewed clothes and household linens and mark them with family members' initials. The Association owns numerous shifts, petticoats, shirts, and children's clothing marked in cross stitch by wives and mothers who learned their stitches as young girls on samplers such as this one.NotesJane Smock worked her sampler in 1803 at the age of twelve. She was born on 10 November 1791 to Hendrick Smock (1749 - 1814) and Sarah Lane (1758 - 1828). Her parents lived on the ancestral Smock farm near Holmdel, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Jane, the sixth child of eight, married on 6 December 1809 to Joseph I. Vanderveer (1790 - 1878), a son of John T. Vanderveer (1763 - 1844) and Anna Bowne (1769 - 1849) of Marlboro. The couple had four children. Jane Smock died on 23 March 1871 at the age of seventy-nine. She and her husband were interred in the graveyard at Old Brick Reformed Church in Marlboro, of which they had been members. The sampler includes the initials for all eight children of Hendrick and Sarah Smock. They were: John Smock (1781 - 1865), Aaron Smock (1783 - 1835), Elizabeth Smock (1785 - 1855), Sarah Smock (1786 - 1867), Garret Smock (1789 - 1871), Jane Smock (1791 - 1871), Ann Smock (1794 - 1876), and Hendrick Smock (1797 - 1884). The Association also owns a family register sampler worked by Jane Smock Vanderveer's daughter Sarah Ann Vanderveer Bowne (1821 - 1890), accession number 2061.2, and a very large religious Berlin wool work embroidered picture by her granddaughter Elizabeth Bowne Ellis (1845 - 1920), accession number 1987.

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