Family donates sampler to MHS

#Middlebury

Doug Clark holds the sampler he and his siblings recently donated to the Middlebury Historical Society. The sampler was created in Middlebury in 1856. (Robert Rafford photo)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

The Middlebury Historical Society (MHS), with great gratitude, recently accepted a sampler from Douglas Clark, his sister, Martha C. Clark, and brother, Richard A. Clark, children of Wallace Chamberlin Clark (1912-1997) and Gloria Beth (Nixon) Clark (1922-1998). Gloria was a former president of the Middlebury Historical Society and made lasting contributions, including, in 1976, compiling a book of interviews with 10 Middlebury citizens, all gone now.

The sampler was created here in Middlebury, Connecticut, in 1856 by Julia Maria Clark (1842-1860) and Emily Elizabeth Clark (1843-1891), ages 12 and 13. Samplers are a significant source of genealogical and biographical information and are remembrances of the heritage of our townsfolk.

I can picture Deacon Gould Clark and his wife, Maria (Skilton) Clark, of Middlebury, on a fine day in 1856, eyeing the handiwork of their daughters as the girls completed the final practice stitches on the sampler they had “wrought,” as the sampler itself states. “Well done, young ladies, that deserves a prominent place on our living room wall!”

Women and young girls had practiced their sewing techniques in this country on samplers for at least 200 years. The earliest known American sampler was created about 1645 in Plymouth Colony by Loara Standish, but the art is thought to have begun at least 1,500 years ago.

The word “sampler” means “model,” and the needlework samplers that were created, mostly by young women, were for practice in perfecting needling skills. They also served as an “aide mémoire,” a catalog of stitches and techniques, and showed prospective employers, not to mention husbands, their sewing prowess.

Because there have been a number of Clark families in Middlebury over the years, sorting the families can be a chore. To make matters more complicated, Doug’s grandfather, Harry E. Clark (1868-1952), was married, in 1901, to Christina Lillian Clark (1878-1943), each one descended from a different Clark family! However, it is Christina Clark’s family ancestry that is the subject of the donated sampler. The spelling of personal names was somewhat fluid years ago, so names were spelled as Merrit, Merritt, Ketura, Keturah, etc. Here, names are spelled as they appeared on the sampler.

Julia and Emily began the sampler with a presentation of the names and birthdates of their paternal grandparents, Merit Clark (1789-1867) and Ketura Smith (1789-1870), who were married in 1810. For most of their lives, they lived and farmed in Prospect, Connecticut, where they are buried in the Prospect Old Cemetery. The names and date of marriage of the girls’ maternal grandparents, Captain James Skilton (1777-1848) and Chloe (Steele) Skilton (1780-1867), married in 1799, were sewn on next.

Their parents, Gould Smith Clark (1814-1899) and Hannah Maria Skilton (1812-1897), were married in 1840, and their names, birthdates and marriage date also are sewn onto the sampler. Several years ago, Doug’s first cousin, Curtiss Clark, of Middlebury, donated Gould’s jacket and other Clark family artifacts to our collection.

Tragically, Julia died just four years later at 18, and Emily, a Middlebury schoolteacher, died in 1891 at 48. Artison (1849-1937), the young brother of Emily and Julia, who probably had little interest in sewing, had his name and birthdate sewn onto the sampler. Artison lived a long life and was married to Lillian Augusta Chamberlain; they had three boys and three girls, and many descendants to cherish the Clark heritage. He was elected a selectman, member of the school board, registrar of voters, justice of the peace, trial justice, board member of the Middlebury Library, and a clerk of the Congregational Church.

You are urged to join the Middlebury Historical Society by going online at MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or visiting them on Facebook. Questions about membership can be sent to Bob at robraff@comcast.net.