Description:
Needlework sampler done in silk embroidery with cross stitch, long-armed cross stitch, eyelet stitch, and french knots on a plain linen ground, which has two inscriptions: "Abigail W Thayer was born Oct 6th 1806" and "Abigail Thayer Buckland July 24 1818." Abigail W. Thayer (1806-1826) was the daughter of Elijah Thayer (1763-1820) and Mehitabel Pratt Thayer (1770-1857) of Buckland. A card attached to the back of the frame reads: " Sampler 1818 / Ephriam William lived & died here. Made by Abigail Thayer when 12 years old. She was the sister of Leon's great grandmother Thayer. The house in the sampler is the Ephraim Williams home on the road from Shelburne Falls to Buckland, a brick house now painted white and owned by Bert Wells with an ell built on since. It was the home of Rhoda B. Williams before her marriage to Abijah Thayer, given to Leon by great aunt from Lancaster, Mass in 1935." Text written on the paper backing reads: "This Sampler among other things was sent to us in 1935 by Leon's great Aunt Miss Jennie (Sarah Jane) Thayer of South Lancaster, Mass. It was rolled over a piece of paper and had probably been kept that way since it was made (1818). Had it framed in 1936. It was given to Leon by Leon's great Aunt, Jennie Thayer. Her aunt, Abigail Thayer made it. Later it came to Aunt Jennies father (Abijah Thayer of Buckland). He was Leon's great grandfather. Abigail died when she was 23 years old. She lived at Buckland, Mass. & was sister of Abijah Thayer (Leon's great grandfather.). She was born in 1806 so the sampler was done by her at 12 years of age. She died when she was 21 or 22 years old. The Thayer homestead in Buckland Mass was up the hill from the old Ephraim Williams Place (now Bert Wells (1940) on a back road and burned down years ago. This is to go to Elvira E. Graham, Greenfield, Mass. It was made by her great, great grandfather Thayer's sister, her great, great Aunt / 1. Elvira Graham (Walters) / 2. Leon Graham / 3. Horace Graham / 5. Abijah Thayer. His sister Abigail Thayer, maker of this sampler. She is buried in the chuch yard at Buckland, Mass. / 1. Abijah Thayer / 2. Lavina T. Graham / 3. Horace Graham / 4. Leon Graham / 5. Elivra Graham Walters / 6. Kathy Jean Walters / Richard Graham Walters." Abigail's brother, Abijah Thayer (1809-1891) married Rhonda Ballard Williams (1815-1890) in 1831 in Buckland, and they had 15 children, including Lavina Thayer (1836-1870). The sampler has six rows of the alphabet in capital, small and cursive letter and the numbers 1-0; two verses beside each other: "Choose virtue in life's youthful hour / though error may contend / Confirm her relentless power / and heaven will be thy friend" and "Time with kind and gentle sway / Softens every passing sorrow / And though it steals one joy today / It add another on the morrow;" over four small stylized trees, each with a bird perched on top, large fruit basket and small flower pot; over a two-story white house with a hip roof flanked by stylized trees with two white and black birds perched at the top of one of the taller trees; and a four-sided border.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2002.69.2 |
