Barbara Winslow

A delightful and well-documented sampler, this was made by Barbara Winslow of Falmouth, Maine, a town just north of Portland. Retaining the vertical format of the 18th century, the sampler was worked in a delicate palette which plays well against black lettering. A double-chimney house is shown in three-quarter view below a classic sampler couplet, extolling virtue as the noblest ornament of human kind.

Barbara stitched her birth date, August 8, 1792, on her sampler. She was the daughter of Capt. Hezikiah and Phebe (Doughty) Winslow. The Winslow family traces its roots back to Mayflower pilgrim, John Howland. Barbara was likely between the age of 10 and 13 when she made this sampler and on February 8, 1818, she married Alexander Whitney (1788-1871), son of James and Deborah (Murch) Whitney. He had served in the War of 1812. Barbara and Alexander had seven children born between 1818 and 1832. She died at age 77 and is buried in the Universalist Cemetery in West Cumberland, Maine. 

This sampler is in excellent condition and retains much of its original color as evidenced by a photo taken of the reverse. It was worked in silk on linen and has been conservation mounted into a molded and black painted frame.

photo of reverse