Betsy Bucklin's Sampler
date: label: date made
content: 1781
name: label: maker
content: Bucklin, Betsy
notes: label: Description
content: 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:<br>
label: Description
content: “While ho<i>f</i>[s]tile foes<br>our coa<i>f</i>[s]ts Invade<br>in all the pomp of<br>war arrayd Ameri<br>cans be not dismayd<br>nor fear the <i>f</i>[s]word<br>or GUn<br><br>While Innocence is<br>all our pride and vir<br>tue is our only Guide<br>Women would <i>f</i>[s]corn<br>to be defyd if led by<br>WASHINGTON”<br>
label: Description
content: 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:
label: Description
content: <br>“Bet<i>f</i>[s]y<br>Bucklin Her<br>Work Septe<br>mber<br>1781”
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Rhode Island, Providence
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
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content: Samplers
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content: Textiles
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2008.0159.01
label: catalog number
content: 2008.0159.01
label: accession number
content: 2008.0159
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sampler
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: linen (ground material)
label: Physical Description
content: silk (thread material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 3/32 in x 12 1/2 in; 40.894 cm x 31.75 cm