Sarah Bell Brent
Sampler
Maker's Name
Brent, Sarah Bell
Location
Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky
Date Made
1817
Maker's Age
9 years old, born May 4, 1808
Dimensions
21 ¾ x 12 ¼ inches
Medium
Silk on linen with Algerian Eye, cross, and four-sided stitches; thread count: 24/inch horizontal, 24/inch vertical
Provenance
Made by Sarah Bell Brent in 1817. In 2004, it was acquired by the Kentucky Historical Society as part of the Duncan Ogden Collection.
Description
The sampler has a green scroll vine with pink flowers across the top edge, then eight rows of alphabets and numbers separated by narrow crossbands followed by the signature and verse:

Sarah Bell Brent Born May the 4th
1808 Paris Kentucky March
the 14 1817 Religion Should
Our Thoughts Engage Amidst
Our Youthful Bloom Twill Fit Us For Decline
ing Age And For The Awful Tomb
Mrs. Todd.

The verse is the third stanza of six from the hymn “Religion is the Chief Concern” written by English and Baptist hymn writer, John Fawcett (1740-1817) in “Hymns Adapted to the Circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion”, 1782.

The bottom quarter of sampler depicts a house upon a lawn with trees, a person, and a fence. Below the scene in faded green are the words: "Learnt to Mark By Mrs. Spencer."

Sarah Bell Brent’s teacher, per her sampler, was “Mrs. Spencer”, a known teacher in Lexington, Kentucky in 1815 who advertised in the Western Monitor newspaper March 24/31, 1815, and April 7, 1815.

The book, of "The History Bourbon County 1785-1865" indicates that Rev. John Todd was among Bourbon County's most famous teachers during the early decades of the county. He opened a female academy in 1830. Perhaps his wife is the Mrs. Todd mentioned in the sampler and if so, perhaps she assisted her husband in his educational efforts before the opening of the academy and perhaps a Mrs. Spencer was under their employ. Alternatively, perhaps Sarah was taking private instruction from Mrs Spencer or she was in an informal girls school setting. This is however conjecture.

Sarah Bell Brent was born on May 4, 1808, in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, her father, Hugh (1773-1848), was thirty-five years old, and her mother, Elizabeth Trotter Langhorne (1782-1817), was twenty-five. Sarah’s full siblings included John Langhorne (1800-1825), Thomas Young Trotter Brent, Sr. (1801-1863), Hugh Innes Brent Sr. (1803-1845), Maurice Langhorne (1809-1809), Charles Scott Brent Sr. (1811-1881), Lafayette (1816-1895), and William M. (1816-1816), and half sibling Elizabeth Langhorne (1819-1873) by Hugh Brent’s second wife (Mrs. Anna Kelly).
In 1809 the Hugh Brent home was a landmark on Main Street in Paris, Kentucky. It was about a block from the Kelley and Brent dry good and money lending establishment (across from the courthouse). The sampler maker’s mother, Elizabeth, died October 10, 1817, only a few months after her daughter's sampler was completed.

Sarah Bell Brent married Isaac Lewis (1797-1856) of Mason County, Kentucky when she was fifteen years old on January 21, 1824, in Bourbon County, Kentucky. They had five children in thirteen years: Charles Thomas (1830-1909), George Lewis (1832-?), Mary Forman (1836-?), Jane (1839-?), and John (Jack) Hart (1843-1866). Between 1848 (the year her father died) and 1850, Sarah and Isaac had removed to District 1, Christian County, Kentucky. Please see the undated photograph of Sarah in the ancillary images along with a relative's note regarding her great grandmother Sarah.

Sarah Bell Brent Lewis died on May 22, 1889, in Brenton, Christian County, Kentucky.
Owner/History of Owner/Credit Line
Kentucky Historical Society, Catalog #2004.64
AKS Catalog Number
2020-085
Sources
Ancestry.com
FamilySearch.org
Western Monitor Newspaper
"The history of Bourbon County, 1785-1865" Hardcover – January 1, 1977 by H. E Everman (Author), publ by Bourbon Press (January 1, 1977)
Kyhistory.pastperfectonline.com
Explore Sampler

  • Sarah Bell Brent
  • Sarah Bell Brent
  • Sarah Bell Brent
  • Sarah Bell Brent
  • Sarah Bell Brent
  • Sarah Bell Brent

Directions to listing