Sampler
Maker's Name
Ewing, Mary Ann / Spaulding, Elizabeth
Location
Pleasant Hill, Mercer County, Kentucky
Date Made
1830s-1840s
Maker's Age
uncertain
Dimensions
17 ½ x 14 inches
Medium
Silk on linen with Algerian eye, cross, four-sided, and rice stitches; thread count: 30/inch horizontal, 28/inch vertical
Provenance
Made by Mary Ann Ewing and Elizabeth Spaulding in the 1834 to 1840 time frame. (See Description below.) Helen Vanderpool of Danville first showed the sampler to Ed Nickels (prior Collections Manager at Pleasant Hill) in the 1980s. She occasionally expressed interest in seeing it returned to Pleasant Hill and in 2001 she and Datha Doolen brought the sampler to Pleasant Hill and related the following provenance: Mrs. Vanderpool acquired it in the 1980s from the estate of Beckham Rogers whose grandmother was the sister of Elizabeth Spaulding. (In March 1970, Mrs. Laura D Rogers [Mrs. Beckham Rogers] of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, who was employed at Pleasant Hill (PH), placed the sampler on loan to PH but re-claimed it in April 1972.) As a young child Mr. Rogers visited Elizabeth at Pleasant Hill four or five times a year. When Elizabeth died he acquired a little trunk that was at the end of her bed and the sampler was rolled up in a towel in the trunk. Mr. Rogers was in his early 90s when he died in the mid-1980s. In some manner, the sampler passed from Mrs. Vanderpool to Willis Henry Auctions and by purchase at auction back to Pleasant Hill in 2004.
Description
There are eight rows of alphabets in capital letters of different styles and sizes with alternating colors of silk thread from letter to letter. These are separated by rows of different stitches.
The eight alphabet row terminates in the initials of Pleasant Hill Ministry:
JR (James Rankin), AB (Amos Ballance), SJ (Sarah Jenkins), PB (Paulina Bryant).
There are two rows of initials which read:
MC LG BS SR PR MJ CS MM MC EG
MB CT SS SS AD VG JR RD MR NS
These initials represent members of the youth order of Centre Family, (a Pleasant Hill housing designation). These initials and the corresponding names are documented in Pleasant Hill records and this use of initials is seen in other Pleasant Hill samplers. Note that “MB” stands for Mariah Boil, whos sampler is in the AKS collection and the “PB” (Paulina Bryant) of the Ministry, made a sampler that AKS is actively seeking for the Collection. YO and CH (unknown) are embroidered at the right side of the initials. Below is a row of lowercase letters and a row of small numbers one through twenty-three.
The signature lines read:
Elizabeth Spaulding born Aug 6th 1825.
Mary Ann Ewing aged 9
Please note the sampler inverse verso and verso in the ancillary images.
Mary Ann Ewing was born February 15, 1825. She arrived at Pleasant Hill on August 25, 1833 and she twice departed the community. The date of her first departure was not recorded. On July 13, 1839 Mary Ewing returned her daughter Mary Ann back to Pleasant Hill for she was not willing to live in the world. On June 18, 1844 Mary Ann was taken away from Pleasant Hill again by her mother. She was about nineteen years old at this time and was persuaded or partially forced to go back into the world by her mother and relatives. Mary Ann belonged to the East Family at Pleasant Hill and was much thought of by her elders and all who knew her.
Elizabeth Spaulding was born August 6, 1825 in Jessamine County, Kentucky. She enrolled at Pleasant Hill on January 12, 1836. She signed the Pleasant Hill covenant on November 13, 1847. While at Pleasant Hill she served as a Family Deaconess from April 1861-5-4-67, Eldress, child caretaker, seamstress, and bonnet maker.
On January 29, 1904, she was one of eleven Pleasant Hill Covenant members who signed the appointment of William Pennebaker as Trustee and removed Jane Sutton as Trustee.
On Saturday, January 14, 1905, Sister Elizabeth Spaulding, a member of the Society of Shakers, died at Pleasant Hill. She was eighty years of age and was the last member of the community that knew how to make the famous shaker bonnet.
The date of creation for the sampler is unclear. Mary Ann Ewing was nine years old in 1834. At some point, she departed and returned in 1839 only to leave again in 1844. Elizabeth Spaulding arrived in 1836, and would have been the same age as Mary Ann Ewing. The initials of the ministry (JR, AB, SJ, and PB) indicates that the sampler was made when all four of these individuals were in the Ministry, which was between 1841-1866. This suggests that Mary Ann Ewing began the sampler in the 1830s but Elizabeth Spaulding finished it after Mary Ann left in the 1840s when the ministry was composed of these individuals. According to Pleasant Hill records, Mrs. Vanderpool also suggested that when Mary Ann Ewing returned to Ohio (where she had previously lived), Elizabeth Spaulding completed the sampler.
Note: AKS is indebted to Pleasant Hill for providing the majority of the above data.
The eight alphabet row terminates in the initials of Pleasant Hill Ministry:
JR (James Rankin), AB (Amos Ballance), SJ (Sarah Jenkins), PB (Paulina Bryant).
There are two rows of initials which read:
MC LG BS SR PR MJ CS MM MC EG
MB CT SS SS AD VG JR RD MR NS
These initials represent members of the youth order of Centre Family, (a Pleasant Hill housing designation). These initials and the corresponding names are documented in Pleasant Hill records and this use of initials is seen in other Pleasant Hill samplers. Note that “MB” stands for Mariah Boil, whos sampler is in the AKS collection and the “PB” (Paulina Bryant) of the Ministry, made a sampler that AKS is actively seeking for the Collection. YO and CH (unknown) are embroidered at the right side of the initials. Below is a row of lowercase letters and a row of small numbers one through twenty-three.
The signature lines read:
Elizabeth Spaulding born Aug 6th 1825.
Mary Ann Ewing aged 9
Please note the sampler inverse verso and verso in the ancillary images.
Mary Ann Ewing was born February 15, 1825. She arrived at Pleasant Hill on August 25, 1833 and she twice departed the community. The date of her first departure was not recorded. On July 13, 1839 Mary Ewing returned her daughter Mary Ann back to Pleasant Hill for she was not willing to live in the world. On June 18, 1844 Mary Ann was taken away from Pleasant Hill again by her mother. She was about nineteen years old at this time and was persuaded or partially forced to go back into the world by her mother and relatives. Mary Ann belonged to the East Family at Pleasant Hill and was much thought of by her elders and all who knew her.
Elizabeth Spaulding was born August 6, 1825 in Jessamine County, Kentucky. She enrolled at Pleasant Hill on January 12, 1836. She signed the Pleasant Hill covenant on November 13, 1847. While at Pleasant Hill she served as a Family Deaconess from April 1861-5-4-67, Eldress, child caretaker, seamstress, and bonnet maker.
On January 29, 1904, she was one of eleven Pleasant Hill Covenant members who signed the appointment of William Pennebaker as Trustee and removed Jane Sutton as Trustee.
On Saturday, January 14, 1905, Sister Elizabeth Spaulding, a member of the Society of Shakers, died at Pleasant Hill. She was eighty years of age and was the last member of the community that knew how to make the famous shaker bonnet.
The date of creation for the sampler is unclear. Mary Ann Ewing was nine years old in 1834. At some point, she departed and returned in 1839 only to leave again in 1844. Elizabeth Spaulding arrived in 1836, and would have been the same age as Mary Ann Ewing. The initials of the ministry (JR, AB, SJ, and PB) indicates that the sampler was made when all four of these individuals were in the Ministry, which was between 1841-1866. This suggests that Mary Ann Ewing began the sampler in the 1830s but Elizabeth Spaulding finished it after Mary Ann left in the 1840s when the ministry was composed of these individuals. According to Pleasant Hill records, Mrs. Vanderpool also suggested that when Mary Ann Ewing returned to Ohio (where she had previously lived), Elizabeth Spaulding completed the sampler.
Note: AKS is indebted to Pleasant Hill for providing the majority of the above data.
Owner/History of Owner/Credit Line
Collection of Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
AKS Catalog Number
2020-055
Explore Sampler
