MARY NICHOLS, Antrim, Hillsborough, NH, 1818
Mary Nichol's worked this striking sampler in 1818 at the age of 8. Silk on linen, it is worked in 7 thread colors of cross, eyelet, hem, and gobelin stitches. 5 full alphabets: 4 uppercase and one lowercase. The unique feature in her work is the dimensional rendering of the third alphabet.
"On November 25, 1790, Ebenezer Nichols married Elizabeth “Betsey” Dix in Reading, MA. This was his second marriage, following closely after his first wife Rebecca Hayward’s death from childbirth the preceding winter. Ten children have been attributed to Ebenezer and his two wives, with the first six probably all born in Reading. By around 1803, the family relocated to Antrim in west central New Hampshire where their last four children were born, including Mary Ellen Nichols on September 23, 1809. Even though the travel distance from Antrim to Reading was vast in that time, there seems to have been a considerable amount of family mobility, since, as the children grew up, most of them married people in northeastern MA. Mary Ellen married Daniel Rowe of Lynn, MA, a New Hampshire-born fisherman, who was not especially successful financially. They were the parents of five boys and two girls, the youngest just fourteen when Mary Ellen died of “lung fever” in Lynn, MA on October 12, 1865." ~ Leslie Rounds, Saco Museum
Mary Ellen Nichols
Birth: 23 Sep 1809
Father: Ebenezer Nichols (14 Mar 1762 - 10 Sep 1840) #204967058
Mother: Elizabeth "Betsy" Dix (12 Jan 1760 - 10 Jun 1864) m. 25 Nov 1790 in Reading, MA, #204967029
Spouse: Daniel Rowe (3 May 1806 - 6 Feb 1888) #54655005
Marriage: 24 Feb 1833, Lynn, Essex, MA
Death: 12 Oct 1865, Lynn, Essex, MA
Burial: Pine Grove Cemetery, Lynn, Essex, MA
Memorial ID: 54654980
Ebenezer Nichols (14 Mar 1762 - 10 Sep 1840) s. of Benjamin Nichols (4 Nov 1723 - Oct 1793) and Mary Trow (1725 - 1816), was born in Reading, Middlesex, MA. He married his first wife Rebecca Hayward (12 Jan 1762 - 8 Feb 1790) on 19 May 1789. She died within 3 weeks of the birth of their son, Ebenezer Nichols Jr. (20 Jan 1790 – 5 Jan 1823). He married Elizabeth Dix on 15 Nov 1790. The Nichols were early settlers of Essex, MA. Ebenezer is a descendent of James Nichols (25 Jul 1658 - 12 Jan 1745) of Ipswich, Essex, MA
In 1777, at the time of Antrim's incorporation into NH, no more than 70 inhabitants comprising a total of 20 families, lived in the town of Antrim. Until 1795, there was but one school house in town, a log one. "Females sometimes taught in summer in private dwellings; among them was a woman, her name not recollected, who resided in town some time, and was the widow of the captain of a vessel, who had been lost at sea."
(source: History of the town of Antrim, N.H., by John Milton WHITON)
I have been unable to determine who the teacher was at that time in Antrim. Done at Mrs. J/S___t's School
INSCRIPTION:
Mary Nichols / Life and time are worth improving. Seize and / use them less you lose them and lament the loss. / Wrought in the year 1818 aged 8.
Label and inscription on wood backing: Mrs. H. E. Dolbeare, 289 Pond Street, South Braintree, Massachusetts. Done at Mrs. J___t's School
EXHIBITED:
Schoolgirl Needlework of Northern New England - Saco Museum, May-Oct 2015
PUBLISHED:
Industry and Virtue Joined: Schoolgirl Needlework of Northern New England, by Leslie Rounds
DATE:
1818
SIZE:
Frame: 19" x 10" x 1"
PROVENANCE:
H. E. Dolbeare Estate (So. Braintree, MA) - Pioneer Auction (Amherst, MA)
CONDITION:
Excellent. In original period gilded frame. With surface wear to gilded surface.Includes full genealogy reference and resources.