Description:
Needlework marking sampler worked entirely in cross stitch with silk embroidery floss brown, gold, blue, aqua, and ecru on a plain linen ground, which was made by Mindwell Taylor (1759-1837) in 1783. Mindwell Taylor the daughter of Thomas S. Taylor (1717-1778), a tavern keeper and shoemaker in Northfield, Massachusetts, and his second wife, Sarah Stebbins Taylor (1727-1809) also of Northfield. This sampler was probably done in anticipation of her 1784 marriage to Prentice Willard (1750-1796) in Winchester, New Hampshire. Prentice and Mindwell lived in Putney, Vermont, where they had a son Prentice Jr. (b.1790) and Prentice Sr. died in 1796. Around 1798, Mindwell became the second wife of Dr. Joseph Goodhue (1762-1849) who was a surgeon in the United States Army at Fort Constitution, N.H., for 21 years before retiring to Deerfield by 1822. They had two daughters, Harriett Taylor Goodhue (1799-1874) who married Dr. Stephen West Williams (1790-1855) of Deerfield, and Sarah Buell Goodhue (1800-1852). The couple's grandson, Joseph Goodhue Chandler (1813-1884), painted the portraits of Joseph and Mindwell in HD's collection (HD 59.190-59.191). The central area of the sampler is divided into seven sections by six rows of cross stitch: "A-O" in upper case, with no "J"; "P-Z" in upper case / "MINDWELL TAYLOR / WWWD^TMa[heart] / A-I" in script over an empty area below, probably intended for the remainder of the script alphabet / "1-0 1783 / a-u" in lower case over an empty space probably intended for the rest of the lower case alphabet.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Linen; polychrome; Silk Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+F.414 |
