Sampler
Maker
Deborah Deacon
Period1822
MediumPlied silk thread on linen
Dimensions8 × 8 in. (20.3 × 20.3 cm)
SignedThe sampler is signed "Deborah Deacon's work 1822."
ClassificationsNeedlework
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Julia Hartshorne Trask, 1946
Object number2084.31
DescriptionA small square sampler of rough open weave linen, with a selvedge edge along the top and narrow hems along the left, bottom, and right edges. The embroidery is worked in plied silk thread in black, medium blue, pale rose pink, tan, and off white in cross stitch and Algerian eyelet stitch. A large one-inch upper case italic alphabet takes up four rows, from A to G, J to M, N to S, and T to X. At the end of each line are numerals serving as spacers, with 1 and 2 on the first line, 3 and 4 on the second, 5 on the third, and 6 on the fourth line. A narrow band separates the upper portion of the sampler from the lower portion. A three-quarter inch lower case alphabet is worked in two rows, from a to p, then q to z, with numerals 7 through 10 immediately following. A partial narrow border, either unfinished or with missing stitches, runs below the alphabets. Along the bottom of the sampler is the inscription "Deborah Deacon's work 1822." A narrow cross stitch band border, appearing as a checkerboard pattern, runs along all four edges of the linen panel.Curatorial RemarksThe Deacons were a prominent Quaker family from Burlington County, New Jersey. This small embroidered linen panel was known as a marking sampler. Young Deborah Deacon was not only learning to sew and embroider, she was honing a skill she would need as an adult to keep her household in order. The ability to embroider letters and numbers neatly and legibly was a necessary skill for a wife and mother to have. A normal household had a good many linen items, from shifts and shirts to sheets and pillowcases, all of which needed to be identified, or "marked," with the initials of the owner. Basic linen garments, such as shifts, were numbered. A woman might sew her initials onto half a dozen to a dozen shifts as well as number them consecutively. This helped her tell them apart from the garments of other female household members. The simple stitching and skill level of the embroidery suggests that this little sampler was made by nine-year-old Deborah Deacon, who was born in 1811. Although it is not known whether Deborah Deacon was raised in a Quaker household, the simplicity of her sampler, with a virtually monochromatic color scheme and the simplicity of its design, may indicate that Deborah attended a local Quaker educational institution. Thirty-seven male and female students from the Deacon family of Burlington County studied at the prestigious Westtown Friends School near West Chester, Pennsylvania. For an example of a terrestrial globe worked there by Hannah E. Deacon of Burlington, see accession number 1975.21.1. NotesThere were two girls named Deborah Deacon from Burlington County, New Jersey, either of whom could have made this sampler. The first, born in 1809, would have been thirteen years old in 1822, the year the sampler was worked. On 26 February 1840, she married Joseph W. Coles (1809 - 1886) of Camden County. They became the parents of at least one daughter. The census schedules for 1870 and 1880 indicate that they were residents of Medford, Burlington County, where Joseph Coles was an undertaker. Deborah Deacon Coles died in 1888. The second girl of the name was born in 1811, making her nine years old in 1822. In 1832 she married James W. Cole (1805 - 1891), a farm laborer. They lived at Shamong in the eastern part of Burlington County, and became the parents of five children. When Deborah Ann died in 1876, she was interred in the cemetery at nearby Tabernacle.
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