Medium Silk on linen with cross, Algerian eyelet, and chain stitches; thread count: 30/inch horizontal, 29/inch vertical
Description The sampler has five rows of alphabets and numbers separated by narrow crossbands and two rows of vine and strawberry crossbands. There are three separate circumferential borders, one a dominant stylized vine and strawberry pattern. A cartouche of vine and flowerettes with adjacent weeping willow trees surrounds the signature:
Elizabeth Protsman
1812
Elizabeth Protsman was born in 1800 in Nelson County, Kentucky when her father, Peter P.(1743-?), was fifty seven years old, and her mother, Sally Leeman (1780-1822), was twenty (m. December 3, 1799). AKS cannot find an exact date of death for Peter. Ancestry.com sources state he died in 1860 in Bardstown, Kentucky, making him 117 years old at his death, which AKS finds curious if not doubtful. The ancillary images show portions of marriage documents from Sally Leeman’s first marriage (her father was John Leeman) to Peter and also from her second marriage to Samuel Vittitow, in Nelson County on April 10, 1817, which describe Sally as being the widow of Peter Protsman. As such, AKS suggests that Peter died circa 1816.
In the ancillary images, Peter’s service in the Revolution is documented as serving in Capt. John Hubley's 8th Battalion Lancaster Militia. [From the United States Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers and Sailers, Pa. Vol. 7 Muster Rolls Relating To the Associators & Militia of the County of Lancaster 1st through 11th and Unstated Battalions and US Rev War Rolls 1775-1783 (84-PA).]
Elizabeth had one sibling, Charlotte (?-?).
Elizabeth married William Vittitow (1783-1841) on March 16, 1820, (as his second wife), in Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky. They had eight children in fifteen years including Polly (1819-1877), Luther G, (1820-1898), Samuel L. (1821-1905), Mary (1822-1855), Harman (1828-?), Jonathan (Simpson) Simeon (1832-1875), Sarah (1833-1888), and Mary Ellen (1834-1879).
Elizabeth Protsman Vittitow died in 1841 (the same year as her husband) in her hometown of Bardstown, Kentucky at the age of forty one.
Sources Ancestry.com
United States Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers and Sailers, Pa. Vol. 7 Muster Rolls Relating To the Associators & Militia of the County of Lancaster 1st through 11th and Unstated Battalions
US Rev War Rolls 1775-1783 (84-PA)
Data graciously provided by Private Collector #7