Lynchburg Group

Knoxville, Knox Co.

Mabry-Hazen House Museum, Knoxville

Although all that remains of this sampler is a fragment, the remaining portion shows a strong connection to others from Knoxville, Knox Co. The fragment appears to have been worked from the same pattern as that of Mary W. Williams’ sampler of 1834 (TSS 180). Mary’s name appears in the Knoxville Female Academy rolls in 1829 and 1831, and this is the likely institution for this group of samplers. The silk fibers and ground linen (28 V/30 H ct.) are the same, as is the horizontal measurement. Perhaps the two pieces of linen were cut from the same cloth.

The verse is from Richard Blackmore’s Prince Arthur: A Heroick Poem in Ten Books, Book VI, dating from 1695. The same verse also appears on Catharine (Kittie) Dardis’ sampler c. 1829 (TSS 116).

Such on the ground the fading roses [w]e
By some rude blast torne frome the parents
Free the daffofils so leans his languid head
Newly mown doen upon his grassy bed.