Eleanor Holmes 1817

Description

Eleanor Holmes stitched this sampler when she was twelve years old using a variety of stitches including cross over one and two threads of linen, four-sided, eyelet, and cut and drawn work in the outermost border. She spelled her surname two different ways: Holmes near the top, and Holms in the lower left. Unfortunately we know next to nothing about the young lady and can only speculate that, based upon her surname and the ship motif, she might have lived on an island or on a low-lying meadow near or surrounded by water, as Holmes is a geographic and topographic-based surname from the northern Middle English word “holm”, meaning island. Eleanor stitched two verses on her sampler:

Lord thou art my hope no Trouble ear’ shall move
my Heart from thee how boundless is thy Love
Lord tale my spirit thou cans’t it ever guard
And give me Heaven at last for my reward.

This work in hand my friends may have When I am dead and laid in grave.

On 30 count linen the finished sampler will measure approximately 13″ x 19″ , close to the size of the original antique sampler.

View the original antique sampler here