Lot 257: Caroline Wills 1836 Sampler, possibly Southern

American schoolgirl needlework embroidered sampler dated 1836 by Caroline Wills (b. 1824 – d. Knoxville, TN 1857), silk on linen, featuring a simple blue geometric border enclosing 5 alphabets in a variety of stitches including Queen’s, eyelet, box and cross, above a signature, CAROLINE WILLS SAMPLER WROUGHT AD 1836, over a flowering bush flanked by two birds and two stylized, possibly pine trees. Framed under glass with a red velvet mat in a narrow painted black frame with a gilt sight edge. Sight: 16 1/2″ H x 8″ W. Frame: 21″H x 12″W. Note: Caroline Wills was born in 1824 in either Pennsylvania or North Carolina (records conflict) to David Wills and Mary Patterson. Her mother died in Pennsylvania in 1840. Caroline and her Father and remaining family were in Knoxville, Tennessee by 1849, when Caroline married James Nelson Seaton. (Note: David Wills is listed in the 1840 census as still being in Franklin, Pennsylvania but unlike his 1830 census entry, in 1840 he does not list any young women of Caroline’s age living in his home, suggesting that at some point between 1830 and 1840, Caroline Wills left Pennsylvania, possibly to attend school or live with relatives in another location). Caroline Wills Seaton died giving birth to a daughter, Sophrina Seaton, in Knox County in 1857 and is buried in Pleasant Forest Cemetery.

PROVENANCE: Descended in the stitcher’s family through the line of Gary and Mary Brown of Athens, Tennessee. A note detailing provenance is available to the winning bidder.

CONDITION: Some dark discoloration to center, with small losses to ground. Wear to mat and frame. Not examined out of frame.