Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Sampler.

Elisabeth Hoover and one other student of the former Mrs. Galligher of Lancaster are known to have named Mrs. Leah Bratten on their samplers in 1803. The twin Bratten sisters, Leah and Rachel, both married schoolmasters, kept schools with them, and were very skilled in advanced ornamental needlework. Leah, in particular, is credited with popularising the compartmentalised style of sampler taught in the Susquehanna Valley in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. After divorcing Francis Galligher in 1802, she moved to Harrisburg and resumed her maiden name, until she married Isaac Mequire in 1805.

Elisabeth Hoover was the daughter of Heinrich and Elisabeth Huber. Her sampler is inscribed Elisabeth Hoover made this sampler in Harrisburg (sic) in Mrs. Leah Bratten School in the year of our Lord 1803/Susanna Hoover and Hanna Hoover my sis(ters) . . . Catherine Elisabeth Hoover was born in Northampton County Obermilford Township in the 18th day of September 1786.

The sampler was originally in the collection of Joan Stephens, thence to The Scarlet Letter (The silk ribbon border and corner rosettes are not included with the kit but can be purchased separately, please contact us).

Origin and date: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1803, School of Leah Bratten 

Some experience is advisable.

Linen count/finished size: 35 or 40 count, 18-1/2"x16-3/4" or 16-1/4"x14-3/4" (please specify). Kit contains fabric, silk or cotton thread, needle and instructions.

Stitches: Cross, satin, stem, queen

Source: The Joan Stephens Collection

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