This small marking sampler with silk thread on linen ground has a square format. The are nine rows of inscriptions: first three rows are a cross-stitched upper case Roman alphabet, multicolored, with vowels after the full alphabet; second three rows are a larger upper case Roman alphabet in eyelet stitch, multicolored, with an additional A added at the end; next row is numbers 1-10 in gold and green; last two lines are maker's name and date in gold and green. Black running zig-zag band at top; brown and green sawtooth band between first and second alphabets; gold and green running diamond band after second alphabet. Gold and green irregular double sawtooth band after the numbers; gold and green dash and bar band at bottom. No selvages, edges unhemmed. Stitches include eyelet, cross, and satin. Colors include tan, brown, reddish-brown, dark and medium green, gold, light blue, and black.
The rows read:
ABCDEFGHIKL
MNO [P] QRSTUV
WXYZ AEIOUY
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRS
TUVWXYZ.A
12345678910+
ANN TRABUE: HER
SAMPLAR.28.OF.JULY.1798 (threads forming P in second line have been pulled out but letter is visible)

Ann (Nancy) Trabue, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Haskins Trabue was born in Virginia November 24, 1783. She moved with her family from Chesterfield County, Virginia to Green County, Kentucky before 1786. She became the second wife of William Caldwell in 1808, and was the mother of at least three children. The family lived in Columbia, Adair County, Kentucky. Ann died in Adair County February 16, 1843. Ann (Nancy) travelled to Kentucky with her mother, Elizabeth (her father was deceased), her sister, and her mother's father (Robert Haskins) with her uncle, Daniel Trabue by 1786. Three Trabue brothers (Daniel, Edward and William) married three Haskins sisters (Mary, Martha and Elizabeth). This is documented in "Westward into Kentucky: The Narrative of Daniel Trabue", 1981, University of Kentucky Press.