The sampler has a circumferential outer vine and flower border with an inner sawtooth border except at the bottom where the sampler is sans border. There are eight rows of alphabets separated by simple crossbands, however the top two rows and possibly the third row show no definite letters (or numbers). (AKS’s photograph is suboptimal.) The verse is the last three lines of the fourth and final verse of the poem Against Idleness by the English, non-conformist Congregationalist minister, Isaac Watts (1674-1748). The verse and signature, flanked on both sides by flower arrangements, are at the bottom of the sampler and read:
Let my first years be past
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last

Wrought by
Elmira A. Adams
AGE 9 yrs.

Elmira Amanda Adams was born on June 5, 1827 in Lincoln County, Kentucky to Wilson Willis Adams (1798-1886) and Nancy Kelly (1805-1870). Elmira’s siblings included Nancy C. (1818-1880), William Taylor (1826-1870), Ruthie (1827-1897), Martha (1828-1922), Rueben Minifer (1830-1900), Richard (1835-?), Malinda (1836-1900), Hamilton (1840-1911), Sophie W. (1840-1940), Weston Hester (1842-1932), and Elizabeth G. (1843-1896).
Elmira married James Francis Davis (1825-1897) on December 17, 1844 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. Sometime between 1857 and the 1860 census, they removed to Xenia, Clay County, Illinois. Their offspring included Robert W. (1847-1912), Francis “Frank” (1849-1936), Mahala Jane (1851-1937), Nancy C. (1854-1860), Martha Ann (1856-1894), James Henry (1857-1943), William A. (1860-1864), Sarah L. (1862-1862), Mary S. (1863-1863), Malinda Catherine (1856-1947), Amanda Elmira (1867-1884), unnamed child (1868-?), George Edgar (1869-1939), Emma E. (1871-1888), unnamed child #2 (1874-1874), and Lettie Maude (1878-1963).

Elmira Amanda Adams died on August 13, 1897 in Songer Township, Clay County, Illinois and was buried in the Salem/Onstott Cemetery in Xenia Township, Clay County, Illinois.