RARE,IMP.18thC-HISTORIC NEW LONDON,CT.FOUNDING FAMILY!!

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RARE,IMP.18thC-HISTORIC NEW LONDON,CT.FOUNDING FAMILY!!

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Sold Date: 10/20/2008
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Textiles, Clothing & Accessories

This extremely rare and important New London County, Ct. 18thC schoolgirl sampler is part of the significant school group Betty Ring devoted an entire chapter to (see GIRLHOOD EMBROIDERY VOL I pg.197)! Truly the rarest Connecticut sampler to be offered on ebay, Ms. Ring even included the photo of a sampler done by the cousin of my samplermaker (Elizabeth Tracy 1774) from the same school with the exact same distinctive "one step" cartouche in the lower left and right corners. This exceptional example I am offering is over the top in terms of provenance and history;having descended in one of the most historic founding families from the Norwich-New London Co. area.....the TURNER-TRACY-LATHROP family that includes father of the samplermaker DR. PHILIP TURNER OF NORWICH WHO ATTENDED SOLDIERS WOUNDED SOLDIERS FROM THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, AND WHO WAS THE REV. WAR SURGEON GENERAL FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON'S CONTINENTAL ARMY'S EASTERN DIVISION. In 1773 Dr.Turner opened a smallpox clinic at the mouth of the Mystic River on Mystis Island to assist those very ill citizens from New London County. The samplermaker's maternal grandfather was equally renowned....Captain Joseph Tracy of Rev. War fame. Such a prominent and historic figure,Capt. Tracy early on in 1737 was given the key to the town house w all the weapons of the town were safeguarded....the Tracy line having descended from Capt. Tracy's father John Tracy....ONE OF THE 35 ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS OF NEW LONDON! By 1745 care of the town house and arms was passed to Captain Philip Turner grandfather of samplermaker "Elizabeth Tracy Turner".
The sampler is signed in the distinctive "single step" cartouche ; "ELIZABETH TRACY TURNER HER SAMPLER MADE IN THE 11th YEAR OF HER AGE"....and then on either side of the tree of life the date "Jan the 6th 1785". That recognizeable tree of life with horizontal spreading branches was a significant and early motif from this important group, as Ms. Ring shows 2 of the earliest examples with this same element. Nabby Lord's sampler is the earliest from this group (Betty Ring fig-227) and features this motif at top center, while Nabby Fitch's sampler (Betty Ring -fig.228) features it bottom center as my example.Schoolgirl Elizabeth Tracy Turner was born in 1774 to parents Dr. Philip Turner (Rev. War fame) and Lucy Tracy. Purportedly the Turner house still exists on Town St. and is a designated National Monument.Samplermaker Elizabeth married into the important Lathrop family,marrying Daniel lathrop in 1793.....Her sister Lucy married his brother Gurdon Lathrop.The surnames in the family lineage are the many of the same surnames of the samplermakers in Betty Ring's book and include the most prominent Norwich families...TURNER, TRACY, COIT, HUNTINGTON, LATHROP, and others.
This rarest of Ct. samplers (sight size appx 14x15) is in extremely fine condition with full retention of all the exquisite silkwork ,The undulating double border is similar to that on her cousin's sampler,as is the inner rectangular cartouche. Truly worthy of the most advanced American schoolgirl collection of samplers, the below wholesale reserve is combined with the unprecedented provenance and reasearch on this group by Ms. Ring, catapulting this exceptional piece into a category of samplers above the rest,and rarely offered on ebay. Without hesitation this is a museum piece worthy of the finest sampler collection in America......(picture 2 most accurate-removed from molded frame for photos)

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