The sampler has seven rows of alphabets and numbers separated by narrow crossbands. Below this is her signature which reads:
Mary. M. Lotspeich.s sampler wrought
In her 11th year while under the tuition
Of her Mother in H………..Sept 1st .

The spaces after the “H” in the final line of the signature appear to reflect picked out letters. (Closer inspection of the sampler is pending.)

Below the signature is a verse surrounded by a vine, leaf, and flower motif similar to the border surrounding the left, right and upper aspects of the sampler. The verse is the nineteenth stanza (of thirty-nine stanzas), in the poem “The Hermit”, by Oliver Goldsmith (Anglo-Irish writer, 1730-1774) and reads:
And what is friendship but a name
A charm that lulls to sleep
A shade that follows wealth and fame
But leaves the wretch to weep

The lower one third of the ground has a basket of flowers or fruit on the left, an uncertain/unfinished object/motif on the right, and a beautiful central house with trees, a fence, and “Mount Vernon” embroidered in the foreground of a spacious lawn. (see the partial verso in the ancillary images) While obviously not George Washington's home, according to local lore it may be the name of the local voting precinct at that time, but this is unclear. As compared to elsewhere on this sampler and as compared to other Lotspeich “school” samplers, there is a significant amount of un-embroidered ground surrounding the central house. Whether this was intentional or reflects “unfinished” portions of the sampler is uncertain and odd to AKS. Why Mary Magdalene’s mother, Nancy Western Lotspeich, an instructress to other girls, would allow this somewhat “unfinished” appearance on her own daughter’s sampler is uncertain. None of the other known Lotspeich “school” samplers have such relatively large areas of un-embroidered ground.
The vine, leaf and flower/strawberry border is also seen on the AKS samplers of Elizabeth Ann White, Virginia “Jane Ellen” Gant, Margaretta Waller Gant (all of the Lotspeich “school”), and of Susan Garth (Mrs. Lucy Ann Day, instructress) from nearby Todd County, Kentucky.

Mary Magdalene Lotspeich was born in 1832 in Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky. Her father, David Lotspeich (1790-1832) was forty-two years old and her mother, Nancy Western (July 12, 1803-December 13, 1889), was twenty-nine. David Lotspeich served in the military in the War of 1812 in New York City, New York, when he was twenty-two years old as a private in Captain M. Langhorn's Company, Kentucky Militia, first rifle regiment. (Documented by Nancy’s application for a widow's pension.) Per the 1830 census, David resided in Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky and owned six slaves. According to “Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky: Historical and Biographical”, 1884, p 36, by William Henry Perrin, David was an architect/builder who was awarded the contract for a new Trigg County, Kentucky courthouse in 1832/33 for the sum of $2,445 (ultimately the courthouse “was burned by a detachment of Confederate troops to prevent its falling into the hands of the Federals”).

David Lotspeich and Nancy Western married in Christian County, Kentucky on December 30, 1819. Mary Magdalene had five siblings, William (1820-1850), Elizabeth (Lizzie)(1824-1916), Benjamin F. (1826-1872), James (1830-1907) and John David ((1833-1900).
David Lotspeich died on August 13, 1832 in Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky shortly after Mary Magdalene’s birth and is buried in Hopkinsville’s Pioneer Cemetery.

Per the 1840 census, the widowed Nancy Western Lotspeich was living in Hopkinsville, Kentucky and owned one slave while the 1850 census shows Nancy continued to live in District 1, Christian County, Kentucky and owned seven slaves. Being widowed and given women's few options for working outside the home, Nancy may have opened her school in Hopkinsville, Kentucky to support herself and her children. By 1862 however, Nancy and her family had removed to Amite City, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. (See Hammond Daily Star, Wednesday, August 30, 1967; obituary for Lucille Hull Lotspeich Kemp, Nancy's granddaughter.) In 1867 at age sixty-four, Nancy established Amite Seminary, a private boarding academy for young ladies and small children. (See Hammond Daily Star, Wednesday, August 30, 1967, obituary for Lucille Hull Lotspeich Kemp, Nancy's granddaughter. Online at newspaperarchive.com). In 1877 Nancy continued to own and run Amite Seminary and employed her daughter Mary and son-in-law Jahleel Woodbridge as teachers. By 1880 her daughter Lizzie and grand-daughters Minnie and Lillie (children of Nancy's son Benjamin and wife, Miranda) were living with Nancy. Nancy Western Lotspeich died on December 13, 1889, in Amite City, Louisiana, when she was eighty-six years old and is buried in the Amite Cemetery.

Nancy Western Lotspeich was also the instructress for other AKS sampler makers including Margaretta Waller Gant, Virginia “Jane Ellen” Gant (Margaretta’s sister), and Elizabeth Ann White.

Mary Magdalene was known to be living in District 1, Christian County, Kentucky in 1850 at age eighteen years. By 1862, Nancy and her family had removed to Amite City, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. (See Hammond Daily Star, Wednesday, August 30, 1967; obituary for Lucille Hull Lotspeich Kemp, Nancy's granddaughter.)

Mary Magdalene married Jahleel Woodbridge (1815-1886), a Union College, New York and Princeton Theological University graduate, a Presbyterian minister, and two time widower on August 28, 1876, in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. (He is pictured in the ancillary images.) They had no children of their own but Mary Magdalene was stepmother to Jahleel’s seven surviving children from his prior marriages (four more died prior to their marriage). In 1877 Nancy Western Lotspeich continued to own and run Amite Seminary and employed her daughter Mary and son-in-law Jahleel Woodbridge as teachers. Mary, Jahleel, and three of his children by previous spouses had removed to Wesson, Copiah County, Mississippi by the census of 1880 when Mary Magdalene was forty-eight years old.
Jahleel died on February 26, 1886, and is buried in Wesson, Copiah County, Mississippi where his second wife (Louise Caroline Ligon) died and was buried.

The widowed Mary Magdalene moved back to Amite City, Louisiana by 1900 and was living with her unmarried sister Lizzie, a nephew, and two nieces.

Mary Magdalene Lotspeich died in Amite City, Louisiana in 1904 at the age of seventy-two and was buried in the Amite Cemetery.

AKS is indebted to Kathleen Staples for the genealogical research available on Ancestry.com regarding the Lotspeichs. AKS looks forward to publishing more of Ms. Staples outstanding research on the “Lotspeich school” as well as her research on Kentucky samplers and teachers in general, if it becomes available.