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Family register sampler

Alicia Lawrence1798

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
New York, United States

A record of the family of William Lawrence and Alice Ripley. The entire ground is covered in black cross-stitch, with the family dates worked in colored silks, followed by a verse and inscription, and at the bottom two cornucopias of flowers. The verse reads: Improve Every Moment of youth while you May For Life is too short to Be trifled away

Details

  • Title: Family register sampler
  • Creator: Alicia Lawrence
  • Creator Lifespan: 1787/1866
  • Date Created: 1798
  • Type: Family register sampler
  • Rights: Gift of Myra M. and William H. Mathers
  • Medium: Medium: silk embroidery on linen foundation Technique: embroidered in cross stitch on plain weave foundation
  • Viewing Notes: Family register samplers were a way of documenting and preserving family histories. They were frequently made by schoolgirls as part of the later phase of their needlework education. This example was worked by twelve-year-old Alicia Lawrence (1787–1866) of Hartford, Connecticut. It documents the 1782 marriage of her parents, along with the births of her three siblings, Sally [Sarah] (1784–1866), William Henry (1789–1792), and Roderick (b. 1791). Also included is the death date of Alicia’s brother William Henry, who died at the age of three. Alicia Lawrence was the daughter of Alice Lawrence (1757–1845, née Alice Adams), who was the stepsister of Connecticut school teacher turned Revolutionary War hero, Captain Nathan Hale. According to accounts by Alice’s descendants and several early Hale biographers, Alice and Nathan were themselves in love but were forbidden to marry. Her descendants claim that they eventually became engaged in 1775, after the death of Alice’s first husband, Elijah Ripley. No documentary evidence of a romantic relationship between the two exists, however, and the love affair has been dismissed by later biographers as family legend. Whether or not there is any truth to the story of Alice and Nathan’s engagement, a wedding between them never took place. While on a mission for General George Washington in New York, Nathan Hale was captured and executed by the British as a spy on September 22, 1776. In 1782, Alice married William Lawrence (1751–1821), by whom she bore the four children named on her daughter’s sampler.In 1812, Alicia married Hartford merchant Charles Sheldon (1787–1855). Alicia’s father, William, was also a merchant, and it is possible that Charles worked as his apprentice. An 1810 advertisement in the American Mercury announces that Charles had “taken the store formerly occupied by William Lawrence.” According to the Charles Sheldon family bible, Charles and Alicia had ten children: Alicia (1813–1900), Elizabeth Bellamy (b. 1815), Jane (b. 1816), Sarah (1818), Charles Henry (1820–1873), William Lawrence (1823–1843), Edward (1825–1886), Catharine (1827–1840), George (1829–1830), and Henry Lawrence (b. 1831).
  • Provenance: Ex. coll. Fraser-Martin. Purchased at Mercur sale.
  • Inscribed: Alicia Lawrence's Work Wrought in the 12th year of her age 1798
  • Exhibitions: New York, NY, Colonial Dames building, 215 East 71st Street. Opening exhibition, November 5, 1930 to February 1, 1931.
  • Dimensions: Frame H x W: 47.6 x 48.9 cm (18 3/4 x 19 1/4 in.)

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