Sarah Yard's Sampler
Sarah Yard's Sampler
Usage conditions apply
- Description
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One block alphabet of 26 letters; numbers to 10. Alphabet and numbers colored in groups of two or three. Each word in inscription and each set of initials worked in different color. Flower basket, bird, eight-pointed star, and several flowering plants. Border of simple geometric vine-and-leaf on top and two sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross. THREAD COUNT: warp 24, weft 29/in.
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Inscription:
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"SARAH YARD IN H
ER SEVENTH YEAR
Y SM MAY
J S MAY GMY JY"
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Background:
- Sarah was born in 1809 to John and Sarah McKimson Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She married Alexander Cummings in 1836, and they had six children—Mary B., Alfred, Sarah Ellen, Charles Thomas, Alexander M., and John. Alexander was a general in the Union Army during the Civil War, and then governor of the Colorado Territory from 1865 to 1867. He died in Canada, but was buried in Philadelphia. Sarah died in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1887, and is also buried in Philadelphia. The initials on her sampler may be family members, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother Mary Ann Yard, sister Mary Ann Yard, brother George Mickerson Yard, and brother John Yard.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- sampler
- Date made
- 1815-1816
- maker
- Yard, Sarah
- Place Made
- United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
- Physical Description
- linen (ground fabric material)
- silk (embroidery thread material)
- Measurements
- overall: 9 5/8 in x 8 1/8 in; 24.4475 cm x 20.6375 cm
- ID Number
- TE.H14388
- catalog number
- H14388
- accession number
- 55589
- Credit Line
- Gift of Miss S. E. Cummings
- subject
- Alphabets
- See more items in
- Cultural and Community Life: Textiles
- Samplers
- Textiles
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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