Rachel Matlack

For many years we have been aware of a small, interesting group of samplers made by girls in southern New Jersey and this the discovery of this very good sampler, made by Rachel Matlack in 1784, is now the earliest of the group. The other samplers date from the 1790s to 1807. Two of these are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and another was in the esteemed collection of Betty Ring. Shared characteristics include the unusual arrangement of the strawberries border and long-necked birds in the pictorial register. Other of these samplers are somewhat more developed, but of course Rachel’s is the earliest one known. It is signed, “Rachel Matlack her sampler made in the 15th year of her age, 1784.”

Rachel was born on April 17, 1777, to Abraham (1723-1813) and Abigail (Eldridge 1734-1796) Matlack of Burlington County, New Jersey. The book, Richard Haines and His Descendants A Quaker Family of Burlington New Jersey Since 1682, by John Wesley Haines (1966) documents the family well. Abraham was a Quaker but “married out” when he wed Abigail in 1763. They had 7 children; Rachel was their fifth. She married a Quaker, Samuel Church (1772-1850), and they remained in Burlington County where they had 4 children. Rachel died in 1852 and is buried at Chesterfield Friends Burial Ground, Crosswicks, Burlington County.

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded maple frame.