Sampler

1829

Not on view

This sampler was made by Eliza Hodges Oliver of Suffolk, Virginia in 1829, when she was twelve years old. She included the requisite alphabets in a variety of lettering styles, and a religious verse that is relatively common on samplers from the early nineteenth century. After her name and information, she embroidered a long series of initials of friends and family; the first two "TO" and "MO" are the initials of her parents, Thomas and Mary Oliver. In 1838, when Eliza was twenty, she married a farmer named Richard Parker (1816-1857). They had nine children together; sadly three of their sons, Richard, Jesse, and Calvin, died as young men while serving as Confederate soldiers in the Civil War. Eliza herself died in 1863, while the war was still raging.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Sampler
Artist: Eliza Hodges Oliver (American, Suffolk, Virginia 1818–1863)
Date: 1829
Geography: Made in Suffolk, Virginia, United States
Culture: American
Medium: Silk on linen
Dimensions: 19 1/2 × 17 1/4 in. (49.5 × 43.8 cm)
Credit Line: Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. William Mitchell Jennings Jr. Gift, 2016
Object Number: 2016.540
Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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