Sampler

In an expression of her deep-rooted heritage, fifteen-year-old Magdalena Denlinger cross-stitched this distinctive sampler with a group of stylized spot motifs found in the Mennonite samplers stitched by women who immigrated to Pennsylvania from Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries. Using a square format, Magdalena organized the classic designs in a mirrored layout, with a geometric vine border that bears strawberries on three sides.


On the top row she inscribed her name above a centrally placed classic Pennsylvania German eight-pointed star in alternating colors. Below the star is a pair of towering flower baskets surmounted by right-facing birds. In the middle row, the initials “JD” and “AD” (perhaps referring to her father Jacob Denlinger and her sister Anna,) are flanked by a pair of eight-pointed stars. The bottom row of motifs features a central stylized vase of flowers in the middle of two pairs of facing birds standing on either side of a single stem of flowers. The bold pink ribbon boarder, stitched in a zig-zag pattern, is a feature characteristic of many important 19th century Pennsylvania samplers and an indication that the sampler was intended for display in the family’s home.


The Met has another sampler made by Magdalena’s older sister, Anna Denlinger (1818-1883) (13.69.1a) that follows a similar format. The rural lifestyle of Pennsylvania Mennonite families meant that they were more likely to learn to sew at home rather than at an established school, and Magdalena and Anna may have copied a sampler made by their mother. It is interesting to compare samplers made by relatives using the same design source, because each interprets the motifs in their own way. For example, Anna uses a pair of traditional seven-armed heart motifs with the accompanying letters OEHBDDE, while Magdalena stitched a pair of more Anglicized motifs as a basket of flowers topped by a chirping bird and did not include the traditional letters that represent the major syllables in the verse “O Edel Herz Bedenk Dein End” (O Noble heart, think on thine end).


Magdalena was the second-born daughter of Jacob Resh Denlinger III (1788-1803) and Mary Kreider Landis Denlinger (1799-1875). Her great-great grandfather, the German-born Jacob Denlinger (1715-1787), was the progenitor of Magdalena’s father’s family and Denlingers became members of the Reformed Mennonite Church in Lancaster County. She and her six siblings grew up in Lancaster County and at age 26, she married Joseph M. Swartley (1823-1897) on December 15, 1846.


In the years between 1847 and 1870 Joseph and Magdalena had eight children, seven boys and one girl, the oldest six of whom lived into adulthood. When their children were growing up Magdalena and Joseph lived in Lancaster County where he was a carpenter, builder and farmer. The 1860 U. S. Census records their living with their five youngest children and a “servant”, Barbara Albright. The value of their real estate was assessed at $11,100 and their personal estate at $1,750.


By 1870 Joseph and Magdalena moved with their youngest children to Bethel, Ohio. A decade later the 1880 U.S. Census lists them living in Osborn, Ohio, with their son Amos, a clerk in a store. Joseph died in 1897 and Magdalena died six years later at age 82. She was interned in Medway Cemetery, Medway Ohio.