Today is the day I have been looking forward to all week. I have spent the money to buy a one day subscription to Prices4antiques.com, as suggested by one of the couples who will be loaning needlework for "I My Needle Ply With Skill."  I already knew that this database contained records for about 2,000 antique samplers so it was with a great sense of anticipation that I signed on.

Of course, only a small portion of those were going to turn out to be Maine samplers, but still...the possibilities!  In the end, I first searched for "samplers" that named Maine, then I searched for "needlework" that named Maine, and finally I just went through all 2000 of them looking at the small photos, searching for ones that had not named a place but had Maine characteristics. Now my eyes hurt.

I came up with about 50 new samplers that I hadn't seen before. One of them almost certainly belongs to my largest group although it doesn't exhibit all of the characteristics I've come to associate with the them. But it so strongly resembles the others that I feel it must be related. I also found a few that connected to other samplers I have seen, which is always a nice find. What that appears to give me is--new groups!



This is Sarah Jordan's sampler. One of the ideas I have been considering is how connected a group of samplers must/should be in order for me to believe that they have a common source. ALL of the others in the group that I would like to add Sarah's to have a unique way of naming the girl's age (as I mentioned in a previous posting)" Aet 10 years" for example, followed by "Portland" and then the precise date when the sampler was completed. Clearly, Sarah's has none of these features, and what is a bit more interesting (oh, and intriguing--once again) is that she hasn't left room to add that information. For now, I'll have to call this one a definite maybe. Without the additional information like age and date, it's hard to be sure who this Sarah Jordan is.  Could she be the Sarah Jordan of Cape Elizabeth who died in Portland November 14, 1811? More research is needed. What I do feel certain of is that this is a Portland sampler and likely dates from ca. 1803 to perhaps as late as 1815.