Martha Nutting

This splendid sampler presents an excellent house and lawn scene; the five-bay, double-chimney Federal house with its blue appendage structure is flanked by leafy trees, all on a deep green lawn. The verse above reads, "While rosy cheeks thy bloom confess / And youth thy bosom warms / Let virtue and let wisdom dress / Thy mind in brighter charms,” and was published in the period as moral advice to young ladies. A graceful, organic border of flowers, leaves and tendrils on a delicate vine with narrow zig-zags edgings frames the composition well. 

Martha Nutting signed her sampler with the fact that she was 12 years old and living in Jaffrey in 1828. The town is about 30 miles southwest of Manchester, New Hampshire, situated at the base of Monadnock Mountain and admired for its handsome village greens and setting on three lakes. History of the Town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, 1749-1880 with a Genealogical Register of the Jaffrey Families, by Daniel B. Cutter (Concord, NH, 1881) informs us that Martha’s great grandfather was Simeon Nutting, one of the early settlers of the town. He functioned as the town road surveyor in 1779.

Born in 1814, Martha was the daughter of Joshua and Martha (French) Nutting. In 1845, she married David Augustus Cutler (1816-1894) and they remained in Jaffrey where they had three children, only one of whom lived to adulthood. She died in 1858 and is buried in Village Cemetery in Jaffrey Center, along with family members.

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled cherry frame with a figured maple bead.