Sampler
Maker's Name
Mitchell, Eliza Jane
Location
Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky
Date Made
1827
Maker's Age
15 years old, born August 1, 1811
Dimensions
12 ¾ x 12 ¼ inches
Medium
Silk on linen with Algerian eye and cross stitches; thread count: 26/inch horizontal, 36/inch vertical
Provenance
Private Collector #29 is the great, great granddaughter of the sampler maker, Eliza(beth) Jane Mitchell and Sandy Alexander Gossom (1809-1871) (who is the brother of Elizabeth Gossom Roberts, another AKS sampler maker.) Elizabeth Jane Mitchell married Sandy Alexander Gossom and they had ten children. One of these children, Martin Rumsey Gossom married Mildred H. Ballenger (1844-1897) and had three daughters: Lelia (1865-1937), Cora E. (1867-1926) and Ida Bell (1875-1914). Cora E. Gossom married Robert Evans Morningstar (1866-1944) and they had a son Roy Ballenger Morningstar (1894-1935) who married Margaret Jane Hines (1904-1989) and they had a daughter (Private Collector #29). Ida Bell Gossom married Frank Peter Sheehan, Sr.(1871-1907) and they had a daughter, named Mildred Frances (1903-1984), and a son Frank Peter Jr. The sampler appears to have passed from the sampler maker to Martin Rumsey and Mildred Ballenger Gossom to Ida Bell Gossom to Mildred Frances Gossom Sheehan. Mildred Sheehan later gave it to her second cousin, Private Collector #29. (Private Collector #29 passed away on May 8, 2020. She was known as an excellent historian, collector of all things Warren County, Kentucky, and she and her husband were well known philanthropists in Warren County, Kentucky. Her son, great, great, great grandson of the sampler maker, influenced by the historical importance of the AKS research, is now the owner and becomes the new Private Collector #29. (Mildred Sheehan’s father Frank Sr. died in a train accident in 1907 when Mildred was four years old and Ida Bell, Mildred and Frank Jr. were taken in by Mildred's aunt and uncle, Robert and Cora Eliza (Gossom) Morningstar. Mildred's mother, (Ida Belle) died fairly young in 1914 leaving a young daughter, Mildred, of eleven years. Robert and Cora Eliza (Gossom) Morningstar continued to care for Mildred and Frank Jr. after their parents deaths.) (Sisters Ida Bell Gossom and Cora Eliza Gossom are suspected in the ancillary photograph.)
Description
The sampler has a circumferential vine and flower/strawberry border. The sampler has four rows of alphabets in its upper aspect separated by narrow crossbands. The signature reads:
Eliza Jane Mitchell Wrought This sa
mpler in the 15th Year of her age A D 1827
Beneath the signature there are two buildings separated by an urn with flowers. The house on the left is of uncertain origin. It does not not appear to accurately represent any of the Mitchell (or Gossom) homes as seen in “Our Heritage: An Album of Early Warren County Kentucky Land Marks”, by Irene Moss Sumpter where several Mitchell/Gossom homes are well documented (as seen in the ancillary images). While the owner suggests that the “left” home on the sampler may be the childhood home where Eliza lived when she made the sampler, the “Charles H. Mitchell” house (built by Martin Mitchell, see ancillary images), has windows on the side but it is five bays wide, not three as is seen in the sampler. While the “William Gossom” house is only three bays wide (like the sampler) it does not have windows on the sides. As such, it is difficult ascertain whether the left sampler home is an embellishment or a combination of homes. Research provided to AKS by the Tennessee Sampler Survey (TSS) raises the possibility that Eliza’s sampler is related to a larger group of samplers known as the “Lynchburg Group” of samplers which originated in Lynchburg, Campbell County, Virginia. Kim Ivey of Colonial Williamsburg is researching the identity of the original teacher or school which used that design and to ascertain how that pattern traveled and to other states. The TSS has catalogued four such Lynchburg Group samplers: Jane Campbell 1832, Catherine (Kittie) Dardis c. 1829, Mary W. Williams 1834 and Sarah Colville Montgomery c. 1847.
Whether the lower right structure existed in 1827 or was imaginary is uncertain but it may have been a storefront or city home owned by the family although this is conjecture. The Martin R. Gossom-Myrtle V. Jackson home in the ancillary images was built by Martin R. Gossom (son of the sampler maker) in 1880 and was located on State Street in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It reportedly was the first house in Bowling Green with indoor bathrooms and indoor gas lighting fixtures. It has been torn down in the intervening years. Interestingly, and again according to the family, the Martin R. Gossom home bears some mild resemblance to portions of the lower right structure in the sampler raising at least the possibility that Martin was inspired by his mothers sampler in the construction of his 1880 home.
Somewhat similar to the Elizabeth Gossom Roberts sampler (also on AKS), the Eliza Jane Mitchell sampler has initials and difficult to read names scattered over its lower aspect. Embroidered to the upper right of the “left” house is “Martin Mitchell” (the sampler maker's father), to the right of the “left” house is “CHM” (the sampler maker's brother, Charles H. Mitchell), at the lower left of the “left” house are the numerals “94”, and to the lower right of the “left” house are “CMM”, “MA” and what appears to be another “M” beneath the “A” of “MA” (probably reflecting the sampler maker's sister, Martha A. “Patsey” Mitchell). At the upper left of the “right” home are the initials “JB” and at the upper right of the “right” home is what appears to be “Margaret Mitchell” (the sampler makers mother), albeit this is quite difficult to read. The meaning of the “CMM” and “JB” is unclear but as seen on the Elizabeth Gossom Roberts sampler they may represent other relatives. The “94” meaning is likewise unclear although it may refer to the home/storefront address, but this is also speculative.
The sampler was exhibited by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Chicago, Illinois in 2007. The cover of Exhibition Catalog and the write up page referring to the Mitchell sampler from: “Stitched Together: Early American Samplers from the Collections of National Society of Colonial Dames of America & Friends” are seen in the ancillary images.
Also in the ancillary images is another unlabeled home. According to a Warren County, Kentucky scholar, this house appears to be the William Gossom home where the sampler maker, Elizabeth (Gossom) Roberts was born and lived…also the childhood home of Sandy Alexander Gossom (brother of Elizabeth Roberts) who married Eliza Jane Mitchell. The William Gossom house is on the right while the Martin Mitchell house is on the left as you leave Bowling Green, Kentucky going north on US Hwy 31-W.
Eliza Jane Mitchell was born on August 1, 1811 in Warren County, Kentucky. Her father, Martin Mitchell (1780-1854), was thirty-one years old, and her mother, Margaret (Peggy) Gibbs (~1781- aft.1850), was thirty. Eliza had two siblings, Martha A.”Patsey” (ca. 1825-1886) and Charles H. MD, (ca.1823-bef.1878)
Eliza married Sandy Alexander Gossom (1809-1871) on July 11, 1833, in Warren County, Kentucky. Sandy Gossom is the brother of Elizabeth (Gossom) Roberts (another AKS sampler maker). They had ten children including: Margaret Elizabeth (1835-1837), Charles Alexander (1837-1923), Edmund Hall (ca.1839-ca.1865), Martin Rumsey (1841-1912 ), Thomas (1844-1844), William Gill (ca.1845-1903), Thomas James (1847-1903), Ann Elizabeth “Belle” (1850-1934), Sandy Cooke (1854-1928) and Tandy Merritt (1856-1922).
Eliza Jane Mitchell died on November 3, 1872 in Warren County, Kentucky at the age of sixty-one.
Eliza Jane Mitchell Wrought This sa
mpler in the 15th Year of her age A D 1827
Beneath the signature there are two buildings separated by an urn with flowers. The house on the left is of uncertain origin. It does not not appear to accurately represent any of the Mitchell (or Gossom) homes as seen in “Our Heritage: An Album of Early Warren County Kentucky Land Marks”, by Irene Moss Sumpter where several Mitchell/Gossom homes are well documented (as seen in the ancillary images). While the owner suggests that the “left” home on the sampler may be the childhood home where Eliza lived when she made the sampler, the “Charles H. Mitchell” house (built by Martin Mitchell, see ancillary images), has windows on the side but it is five bays wide, not three as is seen in the sampler. While the “William Gossom” house is only three bays wide (like the sampler) it does not have windows on the sides. As such, it is difficult ascertain whether the left sampler home is an embellishment or a combination of homes. Research provided to AKS by the Tennessee Sampler Survey (TSS) raises the possibility that Eliza’s sampler is related to a larger group of samplers known as the “Lynchburg Group” of samplers which originated in Lynchburg, Campbell County, Virginia. Kim Ivey of Colonial Williamsburg is researching the identity of the original teacher or school which used that design and to ascertain how that pattern traveled and to other states. The TSS has catalogued four such Lynchburg Group samplers: Jane Campbell 1832, Catherine (Kittie) Dardis c. 1829, Mary W. Williams 1834 and Sarah Colville Montgomery c. 1847.
Whether the lower right structure existed in 1827 or was imaginary is uncertain but it may have been a storefront or city home owned by the family although this is conjecture. The Martin R. Gossom-Myrtle V. Jackson home in the ancillary images was built by Martin R. Gossom (son of the sampler maker) in 1880 and was located on State Street in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It reportedly was the first house in Bowling Green with indoor bathrooms and indoor gas lighting fixtures. It has been torn down in the intervening years. Interestingly, and again according to the family, the Martin R. Gossom home bears some mild resemblance to portions of the lower right structure in the sampler raising at least the possibility that Martin was inspired by his mothers sampler in the construction of his 1880 home.
Somewhat similar to the Elizabeth Gossom Roberts sampler (also on AKS), the Eliza Jane Mitchell sampler has initials and difficult to read names scattered over its lower aspect. Embroidered to the upper right of the “left” house is “Martin Mitchell” (the sampler maker's father), to the right of the “left” house is “CHM” (the sampler maker's brother, Charles H. Mitchell), at the lower left of the “left” house are the numerals “94”, and to the lower right of the “left” house are “CMM”, “MA” and what appears to be another “M” beneath the “A” of “MA” (probably reflecting the sampler maker's sister, Martha A. “Patsey” Mitchell). At the upper left of the “right” home are the initials “JB” and at the upper right of the “right” home is what appears to be “Margaret Mitchell” (the sampler makers mother), albeit this is quite difficult to read. The meaning of the “CMM” and “JB” is unclear but as seen on the Elizabeth Gossom Roberts sampler they may represent other relatives. The “94” meaning is likewise unclear although it may refer to the home/storefront address, but this is also speculative.
The sampler was exhibited by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Chicago, Illinois in 2007. The cover of Exhibition Catalog and the write up page referring to the Mitchell sampler from: “Stitched Together: Early American Samplers from the Collections of National Society of Colonial Dames of America & Friends” are seen in the ancillary images.
Also in the ancillary images is another unlabeled home. According to a Warren County, Kentucky scholar, this house appears to be the William Gossom home where the sampler maker, Elizabeth (Gossom) Roberts was born and lived…also the childhood home of Sandy Alexander Gossom (brother of Elizabeth Roberts) who married Eliza Jane Mitchell. The William Gossom house is on the right while the Martin Mitchell house is on the left as you leave Bowling Green, Kentucky going north on US Hwy 31-W.
Eliza Jane Mitchell was born on August 1, 1811 in Warren County, Kentucky. Her father, Martin Mitchell (1780-1854), was thirty-one years old, and her mother, Margaret (Peggy) Gibbs (~1781- aft.1850), was thirty. Eliza had two siblings, Martha A.”Patsey” (ca. 1825-1886) and Charles H. MD, (ca.1823-bef.1878)
Eliza married Sandy Alexander Gossom (1809-1871) on July 11, 1833, in Warren County, Kentucky. Sandy Gossom is the brother of Elizabeth (Gossom) Roberts (another AKS sampler maker). They had ten children including: Margaret Elizabeth (1835-1837), Charles Alexander (1837-1923), Edmund Hall (ca.1839-ca.1865), Martin Rumsey (1841-1912 ), Thomas (1844-1844), William Gill (ca.1845-1903), Thomas James (1847-1903), Ann Elizabeth “Belle” (1850-1934), Sandy Cooke (1854-1928) and Tandy Merritt (1856-1922).
Eliza Jane Mitchell died on November 3, 1872 in Warren County, Kentucky at the age of sixty-one.
Owner/History of Owner/Credit Line
Private Collector #29
AKS Catalog Number
2020-070
Sources
Personal correspondence with Private Collector #29
Extensive personal correspondence with Private Collector #27
National Society of Colonial Dames of America
“Our Heritage: An Album of Early Warren County Kentucky Land Marks”, by Irene Moss Sumpter.
Tennessee Sampler Survey data
"Stitched Together: Early American Samplers from the Collections of National Society of Colonial Dames of America & Friends”
Extensive personal correspondence with Private Collector #27
National Society of Colonial Dames of America
“Our Heritage: An Album of Early Warren County Kentucky Land Marks”, by Irene Moss Sumpter.
Tennessee Sampler Survey data
"Stitched Together: Early American Samplers from the Collections of National Society of Colonial Dames of America & Friends”
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