Emily Colburn
Langdon, Sullivan County,
New Hampshire, 1833
A handsome alphabet sampler with a delicate basket of flowers and fine borders of flowers on leafy vines, this is signed, “Emily Colburn aged 14 ys Langdon N. H July 28th 1833.”
The border along the top and a low basket at the end of the scripted alphabet are worked in a pale ivory, along with the stylized grape bunches and Emily’s initials flanking the basket at the bottom.
Emily was born on June 2, 1819, to Joseph and Luna (Underwood) Colburn of Langdon, a small town west of Concord by about 45 miles. The town was first settled in 1773, named for Governor John Langdon (1741-1819).
Information about Luna Underwood’s family is published in The Underwood Families of America by Lucien Marcus Underwood (New Era Printing Company, 1913). At age 26, on Christmas eve of 1845, Emily married Moses Hardy (1816-1866), as his second wife and they had four children. Emily died in 1893 and is buried in Marlborough, New Hampshire.
The sampler is worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame.
photo of reverse