M. [Mary] Cook's Sampler

Three block alphabets of 26 letters. Numbers to 9. Word "Marcellus" appears at end of one alphabet. Sampler worked in black silk with brown cotton used only for small period at ends of rows. Border of single row of long-armed cross at top, single row of herringbone on each side, single row of double cross at bottom. Silk thread on cotton ground. STITCHES: cross, long-armed cross, herringbone, eyelet, four-sided, crosslet, double cross. THREAD COUNT: warp 26, weft 26/in.

"With ink and pen.
These marks will give.
The lives of men.
To all that live.

Worked by M Cook.
August 1818."

Mary was born on February 22, 1806, to Daniel and Rebecca Pomeroy Cook in Skaneateles, New York. Daniel served in the Revolutionary War for three months at Saratoga in 1781, and died on August 3, 1806, in Marcellus, New York. Mary stitched her sampler while her family was living in Marcellus. She did not marry, and died on January 30, 1869. She is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York. The sampler descended in the family of her brother, Ira.

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