Sampler worked in 1766 at age 7 by Ann Clay (1759-1846)
at 30 The Strand, New Castle
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From"Wrought with a Careful Hand; Ties of Kinship on Delaware Samplers" catalog entry, page 5 Lynne Anderson and Gloria Seaman Allen Biggs Museum of American Art and the Sampler Consortium, 2014
G1ve me 0 Lord thine Heavenly Grace
Nor let my Soul complin That the young Morning of my Day Has all been spent in vain This Day be Bread and Peace my Lo[t] All else beneath the Sun Thou know'st if best bestow'd or not And let thy Will be done Ann Clay Her First Sampler 1766 |
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"Ann Clay (1759-1846) [30 The Strand,] New Castle, New Castle County, DE Wool and silk thread on linen Stitches: cross, eyelet, Irish, rice, satin 20.5'' H x 11" W Biggs Museum of American Art (2004.498)" "Ann Clay was the ninth child of Ann Curtis (1723-1789) and Slater Clay, Sr. (1711-1767), a prosperous innkeeper and large landholder in the town of New Castle, Delaware. On August 12, 1759 she was baptized at the Immanuel Episcopal Church founded in 1689 as the first parish of the Church of England in Delaware. Ann was only seven years old when she used fine wool thread to stitch "Her First sampler" complete with alphabets, numbers, verses, and a few decorative bands. Ann's youth may account for her running out of space at the end of some lines." "Sometime after July 17, 1759 John Hesselius, an American-born artist from Philadelphia, began a commission to paint Ann's family in New Castle. Three portraits are known: one of Ann's father, one of her mother holding her year-old sister Mary, and one [Thomas] of five additional siblings. [A fourth portrait is of Ann's grandmother, Mary Curtis Van Bebber] Born July 2, 17 59 Ann was still an infant when Hesselius concluded his work in November of that year, so was not included. On May 5, 1785 Ann Clay married James Booth (1753-1828) at Immanuel Church and they had eight children. Ann enjoyed the literary arts and is credited with writing a comedy entitled The Fortune Hunter, the first known attempt at dramatic writing in Delaware. James held a number of influential political positions, including Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the State of Delaware from 1799 until his death in 1828. Their son James Booth, Jr. assumed the same position in 1841." "Samplers sometimes have stitches that were added at a later date, usually by the sampler maker or another family member. Although Ann's needlework is not a family record, it does include a few sets of initials, added later in silk thread: "GL," "SC 1776," and "AB." "SC 1776" [below the first verse] may refer to Ann's older brother Slater Clay, Jr., who became clerk to the Council of the State of Delaware in 1776. "AB" may be Ann's initials, stitched after her marriage: Ann Booth." | |