Sarah Yard's Sampler
date: label: Date made
content: 1815-1816
name: label: maker
content: Yard, Sarah
notes: label: Description
content: 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.<br>
label: Description
content: <B>Inscription:</B><br>
label: Description
content: "SARAH YARD IN H<br>ER SEVENTH YEAR<br>Y SM MAY<br>J S MAY GMY JY"<br>
label: Description
content: <B>Background:</B><br>
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: depicted
content: Alphabets
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Samplers
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content: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Miss S. E. Cummings
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.H14388
label: catalog number
content: H14388
label: accession number
content: 55589
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sampler
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: linen (ground fabric material)
label: Physical Description
content: silk (embroidery thread material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 5/8 in x 8 1/8 in; 24.4475 cm x 20.6375 cm