There are four rows of alphabets and numbers separated by narrow crossbands. Below this is the verse which consists of stanzas twelve and fourteen (of thirty-two, including those in the Epitaph) of British poet Thomas Gray’s very popular, 1750 poem, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”. It remained quite popular even when the remainder of Gray’s work fell out of favor. The stanzas on Caroline’s sampler read:

ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH YARD

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire
Hands that the rod of empire might have sway’d
Or wak’d to ecstasy the living lyre

Full many a Gem of Purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear
Full many a flower is born to trust unseen
And waste its sweetness in the desert air

The signature reads:

Caroline Covingtons work in the tenth year of her age
Elm Grove Warren County Kentucky November. 28. 1823

The lower quarter of the ground is blank except at the lower left where Caroline embroidered:

I
Uselma. Clarke

Does the “I” reflect the first letter of Instructress? This is conjecture which AKS is researching. Please see below.

Caroline L. Covington was born in 1813 in Woodburn, Warren County, Kentucky. Her father, General Elijah Moorman Covington (1773-1848), was forty years old and her mother, Harriet Winans Baldwin (1783-1826) was thirty. (Their portraits are seen in the ancillary images. See below.) Her siblings included Euclid Madison, (1805-1888), Dr. Albert Wakefield (1807-1887), Erasmus F. (1809-1839), Harriet Baldwin (1811-1894), Juliette Augusta (1817-1889), Eugene (1818-?), Eliza W. (1822-?), Cornelia (1822-1893), and Clinton E. (1826-1846). Personal correspondence from Robert Wells Covington (son of Dr Albert Covington and grandson of Elijah and Harriet Baldwin Covington) to another Covington relative noted that after Harriet Baldwin Covington’s death in 1826, as the daughters grew up, “…they were sent to New Orleans to their uncle, Judge (Isaac) Baldwin, to be ‘brought out’ and all married there except Caroline who died when she was about grown.”

The Covington's are another important family in the history of Warren County, Kentucky. The following is quoted from “An Album of Early Bowling Green Landmarks” by Irene Sumpter:

“Elijah Moorman Covington, the fountain head of the Warren County family, came to the area about 1795 from North Carolina. In the Rodes Collection of the Kentucky Library Archives, it is stated that he settled near John Cox on Gasper River. Many of the earliest settlers chose the area of Gasper because of the importance of wood and water. Elijah Covington was impressed with the country and its possibilities so (he) sent for his parents Benjamin and Fannie Covington, also his brothers Thomas, Jonathan, and Isaac. About 1812 the family moved to nearby Bowling Green and afterwords built “The Grove” where the C. A. Smith residence now stands. He threw himself into community affairs and was the first sheriff of Warren County."

The portraits are of note. Both are well documented in “Kentucky Ante-Bellum Portraiture” (1/1/1956) by Edna Talbott Whitley (Mrs. Wade Hampton Whitley), pages 584 and 586. Both paintings are oil on canvas, 27 ½“ x 22 ½“ with Elijah’s signed “J. Grimes Pinxt, July 1820” and Harriet’s signed “J. Grimes Pt, July 1820”. The “J. Grimes” artist may be John C. Grimes (1804-1837), born and died in Lexington, Kentucky, alive and lived in Tennessee, and known for his portraiture and religious panoramas. The “Pinxt”/“Pt” are stylized amendments to artists signatures, typically seen in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The descriptions in Mrs. Whitley’s book are lovely and well worth reading. At the time of publication, the paintings remained within the Covington family.

The farm was known as Elm Grove Dairy during the twentieth century and is aptly located on Covington Avenue in Bowling Green, Kentucky across from Covington Woods Park. In Caroline’s lifetime the “Elm Grove” farm, was outside of the town. Family ownership of significant portions of the original acreage continued until well into the 1900s (at least until 1956). After four generations of Covingtons living in Elm Grove, the Smith family bought the property and it became known as the Elm Grove Dairy. The original farmhouse burned in 1939 (see ancillary images) leaving only the foundation usable when the Smith family (owners of the dairy) rebuilt a modern brick structure. An old “icehouse” and an art studio (early 20th century) remain on the property. (see ancillary images)
For an incredible description of the lasting importance of Elm Grove in the history of Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky, please read the “Landmark Report, Volume XXXII, Number 1, July 2014 https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=landmark_report or search for “Landmark Report, Volume XXXII BG/WC Landmark Association”

Beyond the scope of AKS, Covingtons are scattered throughout Kentucky history. Close to AKS’s heart, however, is Herbert Covington, a member of the 1921 Centre College “Praying Colonels” Football team that defeated mighty Harvard University, 6-0.

An exact date of death for Caroline L. Covington is currently unknown to AKS. According to several sources she died young (prior to 1835), unmarried, with no known children, and may have died in Warren County, Kentucky, New Orleans, Louisiana, or elsewhere. New Orleans is an interesting possibility given the following curious constellation of facts: the 1833 Philadelphia, PA obituary of a physician named “Uselma Clarke” (see ancillary images), which mentioned he sometimes practiced in New Orleans, Louisiana; the name “Uselma Clarke” on Caroline’s sampler; and the fact that after Harriet Baldwin Covington’s death in 1826, as the daughters grew up, “…they were sent to New Orleans to their uncle, Judge (Isaac) Baldwin, to be ‘brought out’ and all married there except Caroline who died when she was about grown.” Did Caroline make her sampler in Kentucky and add the name of her New Orleans physician after she was sent to New Orleans following her mother’s death? This is intriguing, but pure conjecture on the part of AKS.

AKS is indebted to Private Collectors #21 & 27 for supplying a significant portion of the above research. A large amount of additional Covington family history is stored in the AKS database.