Sarah Ann Bunker

Samplers made in western Pennsylvania are far less common than those made in the southeastern part of the state and we are pleased to be able to offer this very well documented and aesthetically pleasing example. It was made by Sarah Ann Bunker who lived in Dunbar Township, Fayette County, south of Pittsburgh and in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania. She was born on July 28, 1814, to Jesse Bunker (1788-1872) and Elizabeth (Phillips) Bunker. Jesse was Justice of the Peace in Dunbar Township from 1840-1844 and a wagon maker by trade. Sarah was the second of their 13 children. 

The sampler is signed, “Sarah Ann Bunker Worked this Sampler in the 23 year of her age,” followed by initials of her parents and siblings: Jesse, Elizabeth (parents), Benjamin, Eliza Jane, Hannah, John R., William, Martha Ann, Rachel, Mary Ann, John, Cyrus Phillips, Minerva, and Bertha. 

In 1854, when she was 40 years old, Sarah married Joseph Woodward (1810-1887) as his second wife. She died in 1872 and is buried along with many family members in Salem View Cemetery, New Salem, Fayette County. 

Sarah may have been teaching when she made her sampler and, if so, would made this as an example for her students. Along with alphabets and a numerical progression, Sarah stitched a very popular verse and an excellent assortment of motifs – urns of flowers, soaring birds, baskets of fruit, trees and a beautiful white vase worked in the queen’s-stitch.

Worked in silk on linen, it is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a beveled cherry frame.