Sampler

Period1842

Place MadeMarlboro, New Jersey, United States

MediumPlied silk thread on tan linen

Dimensions12 × 12 in. (30.5 × 30.5 cm)

InscribedThe sampler verse reads "I will not be proud of my youth or my beauty / Since both of them wither and fade / But will gain a good name by performing my duty / That will scent like a rose when I am dead."

SignedThe sampler is signed "Eleanora Morgan's work wrought in the year 1842."

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineGift of Holmes and Alison Bailey, 2019

Object number2019.16.1

DescriptionA square sampler, of woven tan linen, worked in a variety of plied silk threads. Four alphabets, with the addition of the beginning of a fifth, are worked in cross, box, and eyelet stitches. Four of the alphabets are upper case, with the final alphabet in lower case, worked in dark blue, olive green, wine red, pale yellow, pale blue, and off white. The bottom third of the sampler features the motto "I will not be proud of my youth or my beauty / Since both of them will wither and fade / But will gain a good name by performing my duty / That will scent like a rose when I am dead. / Eleanora Morgan's work wrought in the year 1842." A large full-blown off-white rose with dark green leaves is worked to the left of the motto, while a smaller white rose is embroidered at right. Below the motto, a multicolored stylized strawberry and floral vine, using Queen stitch and cross stitch, runs the length of the linen panel. The linen panel itself is hemmed along the left and right edges, with a selvedge edge along the top and a raw edge along the bottom. A narrow single cross stitch border runs along all four edges of the sampler panel.
Curatorial RemarksFor her sampler, Eleanora Morgan chose a variation of a stanza from a popular hymn written by Isaac Watts. Watts, born in Southampton, England, in 1674, was a Congregational minister, theologian, and prolific hymn writer. Watts is credited with more than 750 hymns. "How Fair the Rose," written in 1715, included the stanza chosen by Eleanora. The two white roses, beautifully worked in satin stitch, frame the verse.NotesEleanora Morgan was fifteen years old when she completed this sampler, featuring several alphabets, a variety of stitches, and a verse based upon an English hymn originally written in 1715. Eleanora was the daughter of Jonathan H. Morgan and Dinah Van Wickle. Both the Morgan and Van Wickle families had been heavily involved in the stoneware pottery industry in Monmouth and Middlesex Counties since before the American Revolution. Jonathan Morgan was a successful farmer in Marlboro, Monmouth County who married Dinah Van Wickle in 1822. Eleanora was one of eight children. Five of her siblings died in childhood (two in infancy). Eleanora married Holmes Schenck (1826-1853) in 1848. Eleanora gave birth to the couple's daughter, Medora, in 1851. In 1853, Holmes died and Eleanora returned to her parents' home with her daughter. She later moved in with her daughter and son-in-law and died at the age of 55. Eleanora was interred in the Old Brick Reformed Cemetery in Marlboro, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

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