Embroidered sampler

Worked on a green “linsey-woolsey” ground distinctive to many samplers made in Essex County, Massachusetts, this marking sampler reflects seven-year-old Betsey Cross’s mastery of embroidery stitches and reinforces her literacy skills. Guided by her mother or the female instructor at a school for young children, commonly called “dame schools,” Betsey arranged fourteen rows of finely worked letters, numerals, and simple decorative motifs in a long narrow format more typical of eighteenth-century samplers. The brightly colored silk stitches stand out against the dense green ground.


Born in Danvers in 1808 to Peter Cross Jr. (1771-1853) and Hannah Preston Cross (1774-1853) Betsey later married Ebenezer Putnam (1806-1848), a member of another long-established local family. Between 1833 and 1847 they had four children, three sons and a daughter. Widowed at forty, Betsey remained in Danvers until her death on June 4th, 1868.