The sampler has nine rows brightly colored alphabets and numerals separated by simple crossbands with a simple, peripheral, vine and leaf border. Near the bottom of the sampler are several motifs and the signature:
Worked By Sister M. F. 1861

Harriet Victoria Price entered the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth convent in 1857 (taking her vows as Sr. Mary Frances Price in 1858). The sampler, made when she was twenty-four years old, was most likely was a teaching piece used in her instruction of young girls. (See below for details.)

Harriet Victoria Price was born on December 31, 1837, when her father, Edward Moore Price (1806-1846) was thirty-one, and her mother Ellen (1808-1848), was twenty-nine. Her siblings included Alexander (1836-1854), Mary Ellen (1840-1862), Sarah Cecilia (1842-?), Henry Clay (1843-1846), and Charles B. (1846-1896).

There is no history of Harriet Victoria Price marrying or bearing children. She came to the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth on November 1, 1857 and took her vows on November 1, 1858. She served missions in Owensboro, Kentucky at St. Frances Academy from August 1859 until July 1870 when she returned to Nazareth Academy and stayed until her death. She was responsible for the Academy wardrobe for thirty-five years. (See ancillary images)

Harriet Victoria Price died on August 12, 1902, in Kentucky at the age of sixty-four in Nazareth, Kentucky and is buried in the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Cemetary, in South plot, row N, grave 17 .

Further life history is given in her obituary, reproduced below in its entirety, and graciously supplied to AKS by Sr. Frances Krumpelman of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth:

Obituary
Sister Mary Frances Price
Sister of Charity of Nazareth
Died at Nazareth, August 12, 1902

Another ripe, favored soul has been summoned from the Community of Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, to swell the ranks of the white-robed throng that follows the Lamb.
A little woman with a great, strong spirit, was Sister Mary Frances. She was full of energy, and took charge of the Academy Wardrobe, where for thirty-five years she did most efficient duty. Not a young lady was educated at Nazareth in all those years, who did not learn from Sister Mary Frances, lessons of neatness in darning, mending, etc., not one who can fail to remember her with affectionate gratitude.

Just a year ago, Sister Mary Frances was compelled to surrender her post; since then she has been a heroic sufferer, never complaining, never murmuring, even refusing such alleviation as might have been derived from potions that may deaden pain, but effect no permanent cure. “Let me suffer,” she would say, “let me suffer whatever God sends.” Only pray that I may be patient. She knew there was no staying the course of her malady, and she resigned herself wholly to God’s will.

Sister Mary Frances, known in the world as Victoria Price, was born in Louisville, December 31, 1838, her parents were not Catholic. Her father died when she was quite young; her widowed mother was received into the Church and had her children baptized a short while before her own death. She commended her little ones to Sister Julia Hobbs, her friend and frequent visitor during her last illness. Sister Julia was then in charge of St. Vincent’s Orphanage Asylum.

The children remained with friends of their parents, but for the sake of their faith, Sister Julia encouraged them to make frequent visits to the Asylum, a privilege of which Victoria gladly availed herself until, conscious of a vocation she came to Nazareth on the first day of May, 1857. She had chosen the Blessed Virgin to replace her beloved mother, and thought to make her consecration to her more completely entering the novitiate on a day when she was especially honored.

And on the Feast of St. Clare, almost on the eve of the Assumption, her chastened spirit passed away. She died at 6:12 A.M. during the Community Mass in which she was remembered by Father Hogarty. Beside her, with several of her dear Sisters in religion, knelt Father Vincent, the Franciscan priest now giving a retreat at Nazareth, who had just offered Mass for her; he repeated the absolution and the last blessing, just as her soul escaped peacefully from its earthly tenement. R.I.P.

Written by Sister Marie Menard, SCN (long time Archivist and historian at Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1902)

A partial history of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth from their website includes:

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth were founded in 1812. Mother Catherine Spalding, along with Bishop John Baptist David, are honored together and remembered as co-founders of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.
In 1812, in the newly-formed diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky, Bishop Benedict Flaget was overwhelmed by the responsibility of providing religious education for the children of Catholic families who had migrated to Kentucky from Maryland after the Revolutionary War. In response to this need, Father John Baptist David called for young women willing to devote their lives to the service of the Church. From among a group of six women that responded to the call, Catherine Spalding, originally from Maryland, was elected first superior of the Congregation. For forty-five years, Mother Catherine guided the young Congregation, ever mindful of striving to respond to the needs of the time.
In 1814, the Sisters opened a one-room school at St. Thomas Farm, near Bardstown. The first Kentucky home for the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, a log house, along with the church are still standing at St. Thomas. In 1822, the Sisters moved to Nazareth and built a new school. Within a decade, the school known as Nazareth Academy could accommodate one hundred boarders at its new location over three miles north of Bardstown, the site of the present Motherhouse.
During the Civil War, the Sisters nursed wounded and dying soldiers on both sides in military hospitals in Kentucky.
In Louisville, Kentucky, Mother Catherine opened Presentation Academy in 1831, the first Catholic school in the city. In 1832, classes were interrupted by the cholera epidemic when the Sisters volunteered to nurse victims and care for the orphaned. When the epidemic subsided, the Sisters opened St. Vincent Orphanage and St. Joseph Infirmary, firsts among their institutions of social service and health care. By the middle of the 20th century, members of the Congregation were engaged in two colleges, more than 30 high schools, and over a 100 elementary schools. Countless children were given homes in six orphanages, and thousands of patients received care in 12 hospitals. Six nurses’ training schools extended the SCN service.

Sampler photographs graciously provided by Sister Kelly O’Mahony, SCN, June 2021.