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Sophia L. Richardson, Cornish, New Hampshire, circa 1831
Sophia Louisa Richardson stitched this sampler at the age of eleven ("in the 12th year of her age") under the tutelage of Joann Cumings, as she so notes in her inscription. It has an appealing freshness with excellent color; the alphabets were stitched in fine black silk and the other colors are pink, green and peach. The verse reads: "Then I'll not be proud of my youth or my beauty / Since both of them wither and fade / But gain a good name by performing my duty / This will scent like a rose when I am dead." This is the last verse of a poem entitled The Rose by the oft-quoted Dr. Isaac Watts. Two lovely trees stand in bright green to the right of the verse, and Sophia stitched a fine garland of large pink blossoms on a leafy vine below, tightly nestled between the verse and the sawtooth border of her work. Sophia Richardson was born in 1820, the third of eight children of Amos and Sophia (Cummings) Richardson, as noted in the History of the Town of Cornish, New Hampshire, by Wm. H. Child. Amos was a prominent citizen in Cornish, a productive farmer and a deacon of the Baptist Church who represented the town in the State Legislature in 1847. Sophia was noted to have filled her time with educational work. She didn't marry, and died at age 62 in 1882. Sophia's teacher, Joann Cumings, was likely a relative on her mother's side. She was born in Nottingham, New Hampshire in 1806 and the Cummings Genealogy, published in 1904, indicates specifically that she was a school teacher prior to her marriage in 1835. She married Cyrus Burge of Hollis, New Hampshire, and they raised six children there. The sampler was worked in silk on linen and remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a fine beveled cherry frame. |
