Ruth Huntington - age 10
Needlework Sampler
Norwich, CT dated 1787
Solidly filled black background samplers are rare, and are a characteristic of early Norwich Connecticut samplers. This ambitious example is comprised of the usual alphabets and numbers, and has unbalanced borders with random sprigs of flowers and strawberries. A variety of stitches and designs are incorporated in the entirely filled background.
Ten year old Ruth undoubtedly attended school with her eight year old cousin Elizabeth Huntington who made a very similar sampler. Ruth's sampler exhibits a similar floral border and asymmetrical inner border with the content worked in bands, and a filled in background. Both are worked in a variety of stitches.
Ruth Huntington (1776-1798) was born December 9, 1776, the second child and only daughter of four children born to Elisha (1745-1810) and Mrs. Anna Ryan, in Norwich, Connecticut. Her father was a sea captain and owned his own vessel. Their oldest son George (1775-1790) was a carpenter and died single at Demerara, West Indies. An obituary in the February 13, 1798, Norwich Packet states that Ruth died in Lansingburgh, New York, at age 21 "occasioned by a fall from a sleigh."
Ruth's fifth great-grandmother was Mary Wentworth who crossed on the Mayflower.
As the rofe breatheth fweetnefs from its own/ nature fo the benevolent heart produceth good/ works/ Ruth Huntington's Sampler made in the 11th/ year of her age 1787
Exhibited at the Florence Griswold Museum 2010-11, Illustrated in With Needle and Brush (pg 26)
Silk on linen; 9 ¾ x 12 ¾ inches sight, 12 ½ x 15 ½ framed.
$23,000 Note: Ruth cousin Elizabeth's Huntington's sampler Link
Hubers@AntiqueSamplers.com
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