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1821 Cross Stitch sampler interpretation

J

JaneM

LostCousins Member
I live in NZ & today I read Peter's latest newsletter article, "1776 & all that - a wonderful discovery" & the link from a previous newsletter re a Cross Stitch Sampler. My 3x g paternal grandmother, Jean RITCHIE (b. 6 Jan 1809, Blair Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland) completed a cross stitch sampler abt 1821 @ 12 yrs. A photo of this sampler was sent to me by another descendant when we were networking some years ago & attempting to find more info about Jean.
Per the attached photo of the sampler, it contains a number of initials. Would these be referring to family members or maybe friends? Jean's parents were George RITCHIE & Janet ROBERTSON. Is the placing & thread colour of the initials relevant? I can only find one sibling for Jean... Janet RITCHIE b. 5 Jan 1812.
 

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I suspect the initials in black are people who were deceased, since black text isn't used anywhere else. GR, JR, and JR are presumably her parents and sister. ER could well be a relative, possibly a grandparent.
 
JaneM said:
Would these be referring to family members or maybe friends?
Click to expand...
Whatever they might be, it is one fantastic piece of work. One of the ladies in the genealogy group I belong to brought along a sampler that one of her ancestors had made when we had a 'show and tell' session. It was crafted here in NZ but I cannot remember when or how old the child was when she stitched the sampler. I felt quite privileged to have seen it.
 
Thanks for your prompt replies. I hadn't thought that black thread colour could be relevant. So far I haven't been able to definitively find grandparents for Jean RITCHIE. There are several pairs of initials with the surname 'H' so I'll try & follow that up. Maybe do some more research on the history of samplers?
 
I love the border and was wondering what the red fruit could be - strawberries? The colours are still beautiful.
 
JaneM said:
cross stitch sampler abt 1821
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As I guessed, there were patterns available. Although this is an American site and a 'current' sample, it is very similar to the subject of this discussion. Take a look here

EDIT: I forgot to say I used 'cross stitch sample abt 1821' in Google and found many examples.
 
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At home in NZ said:
there were patterns available
Click to expand...
Maybe, but I wonder whether Jean used one as the flowers beneath the pair of birds and the white doves are facing the same direction. Usually motifs were placed symmetrically. Interestingly, this piece of work shows the old alphabet with the J and U omitted and the Q is a reversed P. Often the Z was omitted as it was not in much use though Jean did include it.
I have many cross stitch books and have found similar border patterns and now believe that it does represent strawberries and we must remember that the colours would have faded ove the years.
 
At home in NZ said:
there were patterns available
Click to expand...
Do you mean that there are patterns available (as at the site you linked to), or that there were patterns available. Motifs were often taken from pattern books - there is an excellent guide on the Victorian & Albert Museum website.
 
peter said:
Do you mean that there are patterns available (as at the site you linked to), or that there were patterns available.
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Yes I meant WERE. the link was only an example of what is currently available. I had also looked at the V & A site before posting that thread.
 
At home in NZ said:
Yes I meant WERE. the link was only an example of what is currently available. I had also looked at the V & A site before posting that thread.
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This is what the V&A say:

"a sampler – a personal reference work featuring patterns and elements that the owner may have learned or copied from others"

Whereas 'pattern' in the modern sense usually relates to an entire work.
 
At home in NZ said:
As I guessed, there were patterns available. Although this is an American site and a 'current' sample, it is very similar to the subject of this discussion. Take a look here

EDIT: I forgot to say I used 'cross stitch sample abt 1821' in Google and found many examples.
Click to expand...

People now use the old samplers to create patterns - that's why your example has the original worker and the year. StitchyBox is another company which takes old samplers and creates patterns so that people now can duplicate them.
 
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