Ruth Lemmon's Sampler
date: label: Date made
content: 1760
name: label: maker
content: Lemmon, Ruth
notes: label: Description
content: Two block alphabets; letters colored alternately; no "J" or "U." Numbers to 9. All rows (including verse) separated by wide and narrow crossbands, many satin-stitched sawtooth bands. At base of sampler, spies returning from Canaan (Caleb and Joshua), wearing flared coats, wide hats, and kneebreeches, and carrying bunch of grapes on pole; letters "C" and "I" identify them, and over their heads further notation "NVMBERS C 13 V 23"; flanked by tulip plants in baskets and small trees. Border of geometric vine-and-flower on top and two sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, satin, fern, eyelet, outline, stem, straight. THREAD COUNT: warp 50, weft 50/in.<br>
label: Description
content: <B>Inscriptions:</B><br>
label: Description
content: "MY GOD I NEVER LONG'D TO SEE MY FATE WI<br>TH CVRIOVS EYES WHAT GLOOMY LINES AR<br>E WRIT FOR ME OR WHAT BRIGHT SCENES<br>SHALL RISE IN THY FAIR BOOK OF LIFE & GRA<br>CE MAY I BVT FIND MY NAME RECORDED IN SOM<br>E HVMBLE PLACE BENEATH MY LORD THE L<br>AMB<br>
label: Description
content: RVTH LEMMON HER SAMPLER WORKED IN<br>THE 13 YEAR OF HER AGE 1760"<br>
label: Description
content: <B>Background:</B><br>
label: Description
content: Ruth was born on December 27, 1747, to Joseph and Hannah Lemmon in Marblehead, Massachusetts. She married John D. Prentice on January 11, 1770, in Marblehead, and they had one daughter, Ruth, born in 1770. Later they moved to Londonderry, New Hampshire, where her husband was a lawyer and New Hampshire Attorney General from 1787 to 1793. Mrs. Prentice died in 1791 in New Hampshire, and John married Tabitha Sargent in 1793.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Marblehead
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 Mr. James Robert Rhodes
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T14112
label: catalog number
content: T14112
label: accession number
content: 272420
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: 17 1/2 in x 11 1/8 in; 44.45 cm x 28.2575 cm