Sampler | c. 1810

This “marking sampler” is believed to have been made by Natick resident Mary Perry when she was a young girl. Several Mary Perrys were born in Natick in the early nineteenth century. According to Natick Vital Records, this Mary Perry (Jones) is believed to be the daughter of Leonard and Almira Perry, who was born in 1826, making her about 8 years old at the time this sampler was completed.

A marking sampler (not to be confused with an alphabet sampler), is a small piece of cloth with the alphabet, numbers (up to ten) and possibly the name of the girl who made the sampler cross-stitched onto it. The cotton ground material for marking samplers was usually an open, even-weave tabby, a form of canvas.

Marking samplers taught girls as young as five or six how to cross-stitch letters and numerals--a skill used by housewives to mark family linen. Working these samplers also taught girls their letters and numbers.