The Samplers

In the 1700s and 1800s little girls learned to sew by making samplers. On their sampler they were required to sew the alphabet, the numbers one to ten and oftentimes the Lord's Prayer or a bible verse would be included.

Some of these samplers include the child's name and the date it was "wrought" or made.

Hanging on the wall in my living room, in an old frame, is one of these samplers. This sampler was made by my Great Great Grandmother. It contains the name of my grandmother and the year in which she sewed it. The year was 1821.

As I look at this Sampler I can imagine a small child in a woolen dress sitting on a little stool and sewing this sampler. I wonder if she enjoyed sewing this item or if she did this because it was one of those little girl requirements of her time.

I look at this sampler in awe sometimes when I realize that this sampler is here and my great great grandmother has been gone more than a 100 years. Yet this little piece of her childhood remains, right here on my wall.

My Great Great Grandmother had a twin sister. There is no sampler made by her. There is nothing in my home that depicts that she ever existed. However, I wonder if perhaps her sister helped her with her sampler. I like to think that maybe she helped to choose the thread colors for each letter or maybe she just cheered her sister on.

The purpose of the samplers made by little girls was to show a sample of their ability to sew. It was also meant to show they can read and write.

As my great great grandmother went through her life doing all of the things that little girls of that time did, she had a shadow. A shadow of a twin sister who could not participate in life. The twin stayed at home alone day after day while her sister went to school and learned to sew and learned to cook and grew up to marry and become a housewife and raised her own set of twins.

The twin sister stayed at home until her mother passed away and then she went to live in a home. At that time the neighbors called it "feeble minded". My great great Aunt was placed in a home, away from her family and away from her twin sister.

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