Betsy Bucklin's Sampler

Object Details

Bucklin, Betsy

Description

Betsey’s sampler includes three distinguishing features of Rhode Island samplers; trumpeting angels with embroidered faces, queen stitch flowers, and a three-story house. Below the house, flanking flowers and birds is the verse:

“While hof[s]tile foes
our coaf[s]ts Invade
in all the pomp of
war arrayd Ameri
cans be not dismayd
nor fear the f[s]word
or GUn

While Innocence is
all our pride and vir
tue is our only Guide
Women would f[s]corn
to be defyd if led by
WASHINGTON”

This verse on Betsy’s sampler offers a rare opportunity to discover the political thinking of a young girl during the Revolutionary War. She is showing a brave female defiance of Britain and an unwavering faith in George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army. Betsy undoubtedly was influenced by her father who was a privateer during the Revolutionary War. At the bottom of the sampler, flanked by queen stitch flowers, is a cartouche with the inscription:

“Betf[s]y
Bucklin Her
Work Septe
mber
1781”

It is not known who the author of the inscriptions is. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 25, weft 23/in. The stitches used are cross, crosslet, queen, rice, straight, fly, stem, tent, and gobelin.

Betsy [Elizabeth] Bucklin was born on September 20, 1768, in Providence, Rhode Island to Capt. Daniel and Eliza Carpenter Bucklin. On November 11, 1792, Betsy married Samuel Eddy. They had three children - Martha, Jonathan, and Elizabeth. She died of consumption on October 27, 1799, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Location

Currently not on view

1781

ID Number

2008.0159.01

catalog number

2008.0159.01

accession number

2008.0159

Object Name

sampler

Physical Description

linen (ground material)

silk (thread material)

Measurements

overall: 16 3/32 in x 12 1/2 in; 40.894 cm x 31.75 cm

place made

United States: Rhode Island, Providence

See more items in

Home and Community Life: Textiles

Samplers

Textiles

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_1341531

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-5f96-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa