Sarah Sevey’s and Martha Tufts’ Needlework Samplers

Needlework Sampler
Sarah Sevey (1756-1848)
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1773
Linen, silk
Gift of Miss Ada H. Hersey

Needlework Sampler
Martha Tufts (1773-1805)
Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1784
Linen, silk
Bequest of Eleanor Clarke Bowser 

Growing up in eighteenth-century New England, Sarah Sevey and Martha Tufts
created marking samplers to demonstrate their education and proficiency in needlework.
They personalized a common biblical verse by stitching their names, towns, and nations on
linen canvas. 

Sarah Sevey worked her sampler in 1773, having only known life as an American colonist. She considered England to be her nation. Martha Tufts, who grew up in the midst of a war for independence, proclaimed New England as her nation when working her sampler in 1784. This small but significant change suggests how young people thought about their political identities before and after the American Revolution.

“Sarah Sevey is my name. Engla/nd is my
nation i/s my Portsmout/h is my dwelling/
place and chri/st is my salvati/on” 

 “Martha Tufts/is my name New E/ngland is
my Nat/ion Charlestow/n is my Native Pl/ace
and Christ/is my Salvation”