Samplers: Learning to Sew


Zilpah Wadsworth sampler, Portland, 1786

Zilpah Wadsworth sampler, Portland, 1786
Item 5545   info
Maine Historical Society

Zilpah Wadsworth of Portland, later the mother of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, made this sampler when she was eight years old.

Embroidered onto it are "Zilpah Wadsworth/her Sampler aged 8" and "1786", "Remember now thy Creator/in the days of thy youth."

Samplers often included inspirational phrases.

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