Stitches in Time
Records are rare of women's voices during the 18th and 19th centuries. When looking through the collection at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, you can find, if you know where to look, traces of women and their experiences. Young girls were expected to grow up, get married, have children, and care for their family and home. These expectations meant that girls often received a very different education. Girls were often taught only arithmetic or reading—if their parents could afford to pay for their schooling—along with other skills that were considered “female accomplishments”. This included manners, sewing, painting, music, and proper behaviour. Samplers are the most tangible evidence of female education during the early years of Niagara’s history.
To prepare a young girl for the responsibility of sewing for her future family, girls completed at least two samplers. The first was called a marking sampler, and it was completed when a girl was around five or six (sometimes older). This sample served two purposes: to teach basic embroidery techniques, and to teach numbers and the alphabet.
A wonderful example of a marking sampler in our collection is the one made by Mary Miller Ball at the age of 8 years. If you take a close look at her sampler, what designs catch the eye? Letters or birds? Anything else? While this sampler is not the best quality in terms of skill, what you should notice is the repeating alphabet. I’m sure that many of you can remember practicing your own handwriting skills in elementary school by writing the letters of the alphabet over and over again. On this sampler, Mary embroidered the alphabet twice to show that she had learned it.
The second sampler a girl made was more decorative and known as a needlework picture. This one was completed during the adolescent years. These types of samplers often feature verses that reinforce individual and family values. And young girls usually stitched their name, age, and the date the sampler was completed. Once it was finished, they were often framed and hung in the home to show off her skill and patience to potential suitors.
A great example of a charming needlework picture in the collection was completed by Augusta Stewart at Niagara in March 1834. It features three alphabet lines, two sets of numerals, and ten decorative horizontal bands. There are also two motifs: a fruit basket (symbol of fertility) and two evergreen trees (symbol of life). The most charming thing about her sampler is the inclusion of the two opening verses of the Isaac Watts poem praising the industriousness of bees. "How skillfully she builds her cell," stitched young Augusta in her careful way - neatly demonstrating a prized nineteenth-century feminine virtue.
While many samplers offer up these feminine ideals, there are other samplers like this one, made by Margaret Stewart, that is more reflective of the period in which it was made, 1812. The sampler is patriotic in nature and was likely completed following the declaration of war between the United States and Great Britain. While the imagery on the sampler is feminine, Margaret also included this verse that is reflective of war -- “When danger threats the soldiers cot/ And cruel cares assail it/ Affections smiles shall sooth his lot/ Or bid him not be wale it”. The additional inclusion of “God Save the King” and the crown of George III, likely suggests that she was from a loyalist family and prayed for a British victory.
Following marriage, most women stopped making samplers as the responsibility for the day-to-day sewing was more of a priority. What they did do was continue to make embroidered textiles for their home, like quilts.