The sampler has a circumferential vine and berry border interrupted by interesting "clover" motifs at the corners and midway along each side. In the upper half of the sampler there are five rows of alphabets and numbers separated by narrow crossbands. Below this is the tenth of thirteen verses from "The Universal Prayer", a poem by the English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744)(he also wrote "The Essay on Man"):
Teach me feel anothers wo
To hide the fault i see
That mercy to others show
That mercy show to me

The verse is within a vine and flower incomplete border and below is the signature:
Elizabeth Spears. Paris. Ky. July. 25. 1831

With the addition of the Mary Stephens sampler to the AKS Collection in July of 2022, a new School/Related Samplers group is established. Direct comparison of Mary Stephens sampler to that of Elizabeth Spears shows striking similarities. These include a very similar general layout, a circumferential border, five rows of alphabets and numbers, the same verse (the tenth stanza of poem “The Universal Prayer” by Alexander Pope), very similar flower and vine decoration around the verse as well as an identical signature line, with both samplers finished in July 1831. While certainly not conclusive, it is interesting that an advertisement appears in the The Western Citizen newspaper in Paris, Kentucky on March 12, 1831 for a “School in Paris…” operated by Mrs. Nancy Everett teaching multiple subjects including “Needle Work” and “Embroidery”. Please see the MESDA Craftsman Database card in the ancillary images. Was Mrs. Everett the teacher for Mary Stephens and Elizabeth Spears? While intriguing, as of now this is unknown. Further research is ongoing by AKS and Private Collector #12, the owner of the Spears sampler.

Elizabeth Spears was born in 1817 in Bourbon County, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Solomon Spears (1790-1830) and Margaret Kerfoot (1796-1833) and the granddaughter of Jacob Spears (1754–1825). Elizabeth had six siblings, John Kerfoot (1812-1854), Catherine (1831-1831), Jacob Kerfoot (1819-1879), Lydia Ann (1821-1850), Mary Elizabeth (1823-1861) and Noah (1829-1850).

Elizabeth Spears died “in her 13th year” October 29, 1831 according to the Western Citizen Newspaper of Paris, Kentucky.

Of historical import to the Commonwealth of Kentucky is Elizabeth’s grandfather, Jacob Spears (1754–1825). He was a farmer, distiller, and horse breeder. With his parents he moved to the area north of Lexington, Kentucky which became Bourbon County, named for the French “Bourbon” dynasty, as is Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a distiller, he had his two sons, Abram and Noah, load barrels of whiskey on flatboats at Cooper’s Run, which led to the Licking River, and thence to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans where the whiskey was sold.
Jacob reportedly named the corn based whiskey of Bourbon County, Kentucky, “Bourbon Whiskey” in 1810. Henry Crowgey’s 1971 research masterpiece, “Kentucky Bourbon-The Early Years of Whiskeymaking”, (UK Press), cites the Western Citizen newspaper of Paris, Kentucky first used the term “Bourbon Whiskey “ in 1821. The term remained local until 1840 when its use became widespread.