Betsy Bucklin's Sampler

Description:

Betsey’s sampler includes three distinguishing features of Rhode Island samplers; trumpeting angels with embroidered faces, queen stitch flowers, and a three-story house. Below the house, flanking flowers and birds is the verse:

“While hof[s]tile foes
our coaf[s]ts Invade
in all the pomp of
war arrayd Ameri
cans be not dismayd
nor fear the f[s]word
or GUn

While Innocence is
all our pride and vir
tue is our only Guide
Women would f[s]corn
to be defyd if led by
WASHINGTON”

This verse on Betsy’s sampler offers a rare opportunity to discover the political thinking of a young girl during the Revolutionary War. She is showing a brave female defiance of Britain and an unwavering faith in George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army. Betsy undoubtedly was influenced by her father who was a privateer during the Revolutionary War. At the bottom of the sampler, flanked by queen stitch flowers, is a cartouche with the inscription:


“Betf[s]y
Bucklin Her
Work Septe
mber
1781”

It is not known who the author of the inscriptions is. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 25, weft 23/in. The stitches used are cross, crosslet, queen, rice, straight, fly, stem, tent, and gobelin.

Betsy [Elizabeth] Bucklin was born on September 20, 1768, in Providence, Rhode Island to Capt. Daniel and Eliza Carpenter Bucklin. On November 11, 1792, Betsy married Samuel Eddy. They had three children - Martha, Jonathan, and Elizabeth. She died of consumption on October 27, 1799, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Date Made: 1781

Maker: Bucklin, Betsy

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Rhode Island, Providence

See more items in: Home and Community Life: Textiles, Samplers, Textiles

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 2008.0159.01Catalog Number: 2008.0159.01Accession Number: 2008.0159

Object Name: sampler

Physical Description: linen (ground material)silk (thread material)Measurements: overall: 16 3/32 in x 12 1/2 in; 40.894 cm x 31.75 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-5f96-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1341531

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