Sampler

This large square handkerchief served as a type of sampler since Mary “Polly” Hodges practiced her fine cross-stitch lettering around its border. Using brown silk on white cotton, she inscribed her name, the date and year of her birth, and the complete name of the town, county, and state where she was born. During the eighteenth-century handkerchiefs were carried by both men and women, and their use followed changes in fashion and etiquette. Period inventories, bills, and contemporary accounts record that handkerchief usage increased throughout the century. Their large size allowed for them to be fashionably tied around the neck or placed under caps. They were also useful for mopping up sneezes and tears.

Mary Hodges, called “Polly” (a common nickname at the time for girls named Mary) was born in Hanover Township, New Jersey, on August 13, 1784. This was the year the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris officially establishing the United States as an independent and sovereign nation, so Polly was a member of the first generation of women to live in the new Republic. She was the first of four children born to Samuel Hodges (1755-1826) and Rebecca Smith Hodges (1762-1845). When Polly was 21, she married Caleb Dustin (1782-1821) of Bernardston, Massachusetts, on February 1, 1806. They had one daughter, named Mary Helen, born on December 9, 1806 in Enfield, New Hampshire where Polly and Caleb were then living. Sadly, Polly died twelve days later, on December 21. Before the discovery of antibiotics, it was far too common for young women to die of infections following childbirth. Polly and Caleb’s daughter, Mary Helen, lived with her father until his death in 1821. When she was 50 years old, she married Thaddeus Clapp (b. 1811), a fruit grower, and lived in Dorchester, Milton, and Boston, Massachusetts, until her death in 1890, aged 83. Throughout her long life, Mary Helen may have been the keeper of her mother’s handkerchief, never knowing that this personalized keepsake would one day enter the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, thus documenting her mother’s short life.