Sampler

Anna Huntington’s sampler, completed in 1803, belongs to a group of three samplers from Franklin, Connecticut, which are thought to have been made under the instruction of the Misses Nott, who educated young ladies in the parsonage of their father, Congregationalist minister and educator Reverend Samuel Nott (1754-1852). Her sampler, and that of Laura Hyde (MMA 44.113) are graphically striking, and unique in that they are embroidered with scenes from parts of the world that were just opening to trade with the United States at the time they were stitched. They both feature images of American sailing ships in faraway locales; Anna’s sampler depicts views of the walled city of "Jerusalem" and "The Levant", with American ships in a choppy harbor, while Laura’s sampler shows scenes of "India Within the Ganges" and "The Bay of Bengal". The images of foreign lands were likely copied from engraved plates in books about travel to "exotic" places, which would have been considered highly educational sources of study for young ladies. The turn of the nineteenth century saw a greater emphasis on the intellectual education of girls. Young women of the new American Republic were expected to be literate, understand basic mathematics, and be familiar with world geography, in addition to learning traditional female skills such as sewing and embroidery. Another factor in the prominence of the foreign scenes may be attributed to the beginnings of the Christian missionary movement—in fact, Reverend Nott was the president of the Norwich Missionary Society, and a member of the Missionary Society of Connecticut. His eldest son, Samuel Jr., was one of the first five missionaries sent to India in 1812. Perhaps Anna’s scenes of the Levant and Jerusalem reference areas where American missionaries hoped to journey.

Born in Franklin, Connecticut, Anna was eldest of the four children of Azariah Huntington (1756-1833) and Parnell Champion Huntington (1757-1819). The Huntington’s were an old Connecticut family whose descendants emigrated to America in 1633. Anna’s father was a prosperous farmer and deacon of the Franklin church where Reverend Nott was the pastor. When she was seventeen, Anna married Stephen Robinson (d. 1833) of Canterbury, Connecticut, on November 30, 1809. They lived in Attleboro, Massachusetts, where he was a farmer, a teacher, and later a physician who practiced in Providence, Rhode Island. Anna and Stephen had three sons and one daughter. Anna died when her children were still young on December 13, 1819 at age twenty-seven. She was interred at the Old Franklin Plains Cemetery, in Connecticut, near her parents.