Jemima Gorham's Sampler

Two block alphabets, one with 26 letters and one with no "J"; "V" and "U" reversed; numbers to 12. Landscape with gentleman and two ladies; gentleman wears short coat, knee breeches, and wide hat, and carries a walking stick. One lady wears flowered dress; the other wears striped dress and both wear caps or hats. Hill, tree, and flowering bush on lawn, and small leaping dog. Overhead, clouds and trumpeting angel. Border has wide free-style meandering vine with various flowers. Brown guidelines under center scene and floral border. Just below verse, five rows of staggered cross stitch cover seam where two pieces of ground fabric join. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, crosslet, petit point, chain, stem, outline, queen. THREAD COUNT: warp 26, weft 32/in.

"Let f[s]potlef[s]s innocence and truth
My every action guide
And guard my unexperienced Youth
From vanity and pride

Jemima
Gorham born
august 28 1775
made this sampler
in Bristol 1790
at Mrs. ushers
School"

Jemima was born on August 29, 1775, to Isaac and Sarah Thomas Gorham in Bristol, Rhode Island. She was the oldest of nine children, and her father died at sea at the age of 48. Jemima married Nicholas Peck as his second wife on October 1, 1797, and died on November 7, 1798, in Bristol, shortly after the birth of their daughter, Jemima Gorham Peck. A year later Nicholas married his wife's sister, Sarah Gorham, on October 5, 1799.

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