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photo post: needlework
Jun. 28th, 2008 01:40 pmNo, I am not so speedy that I could manage to complete a needlework project already.
But I remembered that a couple years back I'd taken some photos of some of the things my maternal grandmother has in her apartment. She's one of only two children, and the last of a somewhat dwindling family of eleventh-generation (or so; the Denisons came in 1633 on the Lion) farmers in the US. She was the only one to get a college education, and her primary interest was in history (though she went on to do clerical work professionally, in her own time she became a world-renowned expert on the history of the Shakers, because they were customers of her father's general store when she was a girl, and she was interested). So relatives, especially as older ones died or moved into smaller houses, generally got into the habit of giving her their antiques and curiosities, as it was known that Betty was the one who'd a) be interested, and b) know what the hell it was.
One of the things she got fairly recently (well, probably 10 years ago now, but in the grand scheme of things...) was from an elderly second cousin, who sent her an envelope full of folded cloth and said "Here, I'm not sure what this is but I know it's old." Grandma opened it up and discovered the sampler of a long-dead great-great-and-then-some aunt, Betsy Ogsbury. Betsy was born in 1799, and did the sampler at the age of 9.
It is mildly damaged and somewhat stained, with some of the stitching missing now, but cleaned and put into a frame, it's largely intact and can be appreciated as the somewhat-inexpert handiwork of a small girl a very long time ago.
She already had another sampler by another distant ancestress (this one may have been a great-great-etc. grandmother, but I'm not sure), a Sarah M. Chesebro, though this one wasn't dated. I believe Grandma has nailed down Sarah's date of birth, but I don't have the paperwork. This one states that she was "Aged 14 years", and is smaller but has some more sophisticated stitching.
If you click through there is a photo of the entirety of each piece in the photostream, but they're not clear photos-- I took them several years ago with my old not-very-good camera, so they're blurry.
But I remembered that a couple years back I'd taken some photos of some of the things my maternal grandmother has in her apartment. She's one of only two children, and the last of a somewhat dwindling family of eleventh-generation (or so; the Denisons came in 1633 on the Lion) farmers in the US. She was the only one to get a college education, and her primary interest was in history (though she went on to do clerical work professionally, in her own time she became a world-renowned expert on the history of the Shakers, because they were customers of her father's general store when she was a girl, and she was interested). So relatives, especially as older ones died or moved into smaller houses, generally got into the habit of giving her their antiques and curiosities, as it was known that Betty was the one who'd a) be interested, and b) know what the hell it was.
One of the things she got fairly recently (well, probably 10 years ago now, but in the grand scheme of things...) was from an elderly second cousin, who sent her an envelope full of folded cloth and said "Here, I'm not sure what this is but I know it's old." Grandma opened it up and discovered the sampler of a long-dead great-great-and-then-some aunt, Betsy Ogsbury. Betsy was born in 1799, and did the sampler at the age of 9.
It is mildly damaged and somewhat stained, with some of the stitching missing now, but cleaned and put into a frame, it's largely intact and can be appreciated as the somewhat-inexpert handiwork of a small girl a very long time ago.
She already had another sampler by another distant ancestress (this one may have been a great-great-etc. grandmother, but I'm not sure), a Sarah M. Chesebro, though this one wasn't dated. I believe Grandma has nailed down Sarah's date of birth, but I don't have the paperwork. This one states that she was "Aged 14 years", and is smaller but has some more sophisticated stitching.
If you click through there is a photo of the entirety of each piece in the photostream, but they're not clear photos-- I took them several years ago with my old not-very-good camera, so they're blurry.
