Important Maryland Sampler, 1835

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About the Item

The outstanding book, A Maryland Schoolgirl Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery 1738 – 1860, by Gloria Seaman Allen (Maryland Historical Society, 2007) is notable for its depth and breadth and it has become an invaluable resource for collectors and scholars. The discovery of a sampler made at a Maryland school previously unknown to Dr. Allen would be difficult to imagine. Therefore, we are delighted to have discovered this splendid sampler made by Lydia Ann Griffith at the East Nottingham School of Cecil County, Maryland; an exceptional sampler worked at a school, until now, undocumented. Dr. Allen has commented on our Griffith sampler as follows, “This bold sampler is the first known to document the teaching of needlework at a Quaker school in Cecil County that was probably associated with the East Nottingham Meeting, also known as Brick Meeting. Responding to the appeal of the Philadelphia Annual Meeting, of which Nottingham formed a part, a school house was erected near the meeting house about 1780 and continued in operation until 1845 when the public school system was inaugurated.” Lydia’s sampler features an outstanding, large scale floral arrangement in a two-handled vase sitting on a stepped and shaded base. Quaker sampler motifs used by Lydia include the pairs of birds, sprays of lilies and baskets of fruit. These motifs, the central flowers in vase and the appealing and unusual border of grape bunches with accompanying leaves and tendrilling vines, indicate the high level of the education in the needle arts that was taught at East Nottingham School. The Griffith family belonged to Brick Meeting House, a Society of Friends Meeting in northern Maryland that was founded in 1702 on land set aside by William Penn for a Commons and Meeting House. Nathan and Mary (Kirk) Griffith were married there in 1818. Lydia was the oldest child of their five children, born on June 17, 1819. Nathan came to Cecil County from Chester County, Pennsylvania with his family when he was two years old. He became a farmer and “master shoemaker” and served the town as Collector of Taxes and School Commissioner. According to his obituary published in the April 13, 1889 Cecil Whig (the local newspaper founded in 1841), Nathan was a man of “pleasant disposition, strictest integrity and was respected by all who knew him.”Lydia married Clemson Brown (1818-1860) in 1844 and they became the parents of six children born between 1845 and 1855. Lydia died in 1899; she and family members are all buried in Friends Cemetery of the Brick Friends Meeting House. Information came from Births, Deaths and Marriages of the Nottingham Quakers 1680 – 1899 by Alice L. Beard (Westminster, MD, 2001). One of the documents that shed further light on this family is the will of Lydia’s aunt, Ann Kirk (1797-1886), a Quaker lady who remained single and, along with her sister, Hannah, manufactured carpets. Lydia Ann Brown and her daughters Mary and Elizabeth are named as beneficiaries, as are other Kirk and Griffith family members. We also have copies of the marriage certificate of Nathan and Mary and that of Clemson and Lydia Ann and many other Friends records pertaining to the family. Samplers and needlework are our specialty. If you are interested in more of this type of work please visit our website, www.samplings.com.

Dimensions:
Height: 23.75 in (60.33 cm)Width: 21.5 in (54.61 cm)
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
dated 1835
Condition:
Seller Location:
Philadelphia, PA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: U1210228583473