Elizabeth Sisson samplers (General)

by amaska , Monday, September 02, 2019, 21:35 (1688 days ago) @ MPGriffiths

Thank you, that is interesting. Looking at the actual signatures is very useful. This makes me question my understanding of what kind of household would encourage embroidery. I have been assuming a labourer in the mid 1800 wouldn't have had the means to do so, and would be unlikely to be able to sign his name. In your example the father could sign despite being a labourer, so maybe he could have afforded to give his daughter linen and threads.

Elizabeth would have needed access to two books because one embroidery seems to be copied from a book called The Child's Monosyllabic Spelling Book and another is from Markham Improved: Being an Introduction to Spelling and Reading English. This does suggest that the household would have had access to such books, and leisure time to spend on them.