Description:
Unfinished needlework sampler done in silk embroidery on an unbleached, loosely-woven linen ground, which has six rows of the alphabet and a row of the numbers 1-9, over the inscription, "Eliza Colton / Aged 9 years" on the left and a large fruit basket on the right side. The sampler descended in the Colton family of Northfield. The son of Isaac Colton (1760-1803) and Elizabeth Calkins Colton (d.1811), Richard Colton (1787-1872) was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts; married Betsy Hale (1791-1865) of Enfield, Connecticut, in 1808; and moved to Northfield. Mass., in 1811. Richard was a plow and wagon maker, skilled surveyor, and active in civil affairs as a Northfield selectman, Representative in the Legislature in 1827, Justice of the Peace and County Commissioner. Richard and Betsy had six children: Eli Hale (1809-1882) who married Cynthia Terry (1813-1889) of Enfield in 1838; the maker of this sampler, Eliza (1811-1891) who married George Alexander (1805-1887) of Northfield in 1834; Amanda M. (1814-1899) who married Charles Alexander (1810-1892) of Northfield in 1845; Alonzo (1816-1890) who married Sophronia Brewster (1821-1901) of South Hanson, Mass., in 1852, and moved to Hanson; Edwin Williams (1831-1862) who married Mary S. Newton in 1860; and Edwin's twin brother, Edward Wells (1831-1887) who married Susan Maxwell Heard (1837-1874) in 1861, and Fanny Matilda Warriner (1838-1917) of Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1877. Edward Wells and Susan Colton had three children: Everett Wells (1862-1929); Maria Heard (1864-1934) who married Newton Keet; and Joseph Richard Colton (1869-1952) who married Ada Newell Starr (1876-1979) in 1899 and continued to live in East Northfield. Joseph Richard Colton worked as a clothing agent of Wanamaker & Brown of Philadelphia, insurance agent, surveyor, entrepreneur, etc. Joseph and Ada Colton had three children: Florence Amanda (1899-1979); Evangeline Darrow (1904-1979) who married David Craven Cook in 1934; and Priscilla Maxwell (1908-1987) who married Harold James Carroll of NYC in 1908. This sampler descended through the family to Maria Cook Rogers, the daughter of David and Evangeline Colton Cook. See Eliza's sister, Amanda's sampler (HD 2008.25.9).
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+2008.25.10 |
