Featured Old Sampler - need genealogy help

First old sampler that I have come across and owned, so all help welcome. All writing of Biblical quotations (plus a border), and no flowers or animals, which I haven't seen before. Does that make this something other than a sampler - could this be part of her religion?

Sorry about the pic quality, this isn't nearly as hard to read as it appears in my lousy pics. I can get better ones if needed, but I don't want to take it out of the glass for now. Found at an estate in Massachusetts in the USA. Hopefully Pring is an unusual name that maybe can be traced (simple google didn't do it for me).

Partial Text:

CHRISTIAN REMEMBER
that thou has TO-DAY
A God to serve and glorify __ I Cor. vi. 20.
A Soul to save __ Pbil. ii. 12. 12.
Repentance to seek and perform __ Acts. V. 31.
A Savior to believe in and imitate __ Acts. XVI. 31.
A body to mortify through the spirit __ Rom. VIII. 13.
...
Evil passions to subdue __2 Cor. X. 8. Ephes. IV. 31., 32.
And perhaps Death to suffer __ Luke. XII. 20.
And judgment to undergo ___ 2 Cor. V. 10.
AND ALL THESE MUST BE MET AND PERFORMED IN
THE GRACE OF CHRIST
AND NOT IN YOUR OWN STRENGTH WHICH IS PERFECT WEAKNESS.
2 Cor. XII. 9., 10. Phil. iv. 13.
Eliza Christina Pring
1837

 

My personal guess; (not being a sampler expert) is that it was a collection of her own favorite Bible verses. Perhaps something she worked on Sunday afternoons when they were not to "labor".

Leslie

 

Sounds like one fun spinsterhood

 

Fyi, familysearch.org, the geneaology site run by the Latter-Day Saints, is free to join and helpful for doing research of this sort. Unfortunately, Eliza Pring isn't -- believe it or not -- an unusual name. Most were English though. You could do research into the verses and see which Bible they're from which may help you extrapolate source. But don't think it was done by a child. ("Passions to subdue...?") By way, not sure yours would be called a sampler as doesn't demonstrate various stitches. What do others think? Perhaps better called a needlepoint panel of Bible verses.

Debora

 

not a sampler in the traditional sense ....

 

Or is it cross stitch?

 

No it isn't a sampler as such ....
A sampler showed off the stitchers skills using different stitches ........

The English word 'sampler' derives from the Latin 'exemplum', or the old French term 'essamplaire', meaning 'an example'. Before the introduction of printed designs, embroiderers and lacemakers needed a way to record and reference different designs, stitches and effects. The answer was to create a sampler – a personal reference work featuring patterns and elements that the owner may have learned or copied from others, to recreate again in new pieces.

 

I agree. I was expecting a sampler in the usual sense of the word.

 

Would be cross stitch if the stitches are little x's, I can't tell from the photos.
Agree that it's not a sampler due to it not using a variety of stitches/techniques.
It doesn't actually depict any notable needlework skills, perhaps it was just done as wholesome busywork.

 

Doesn't appear to be cross stitch. But finely done, careful work. (Not that I'd want its maker over for dinner. She seems a bit... how shall we say? ... humorless.

Debora

 

Does the framing look legitimately old? Not to be a spoilsport, but there are modern reproductions of stitchery, made to look old, sold at some types of gift shops. And I've seen them show up in antique shops, etc.

That being said, this looks like it could be the age it purports to be. And of course it could have been framed at any time in its existence, so the age of the framing, if newer, doesn't really indicate anything. But if the framing were to look extremely old, then that could identify it as old for sure.

 

I'm more apt to first look at the fabric rather than the frame. It looks like handwoven linen from the photos to me. It has a very uneven weave; and the fact that there are a number of very worn areas...speaks to me. I know that reproductions do show up; but this one seems to be "extreme" if it is a repro. Although they may tea dye and give it signs of wear; it seems to be unusual if it is indeed a repro, to be worked on handwoven. And if the repro maker went to all that work to use handwoven linen; and give it signs of wear; it seems like they would have used a more appropriately dated frame... it probably wouldn't have been under glass originally. To me it still has an "original" vibe. LOL... and frankly, as Debora mentioned... the choice of verse is quite "humorless" - rather stiffly pious. If I was making a repro; I'd want it to be more "cheerful".
But, as I said earlier; I'm not a sampler expert...
I do love trying to "figure" out something's history though!
Leslie

 

I have to say... I can't imagine this is a recent-ish, reproduction piece. It's not colorful or showy enough to be commercial. And the verses are depressing. It reads to me as something an older woman created for her bedroom so that, at the start of each "TO-DAY," she would be reminded of her personal credo. Christian, of course, but of a more fundamentalist branch, I'd think.

Debora

 

I have a lot of Victorian samplers and looking closely at the photos there is no doubt in my mind that this piece is genuine.
Also If someone was going to fake a sampler they would have chosen more commercial subject matter, as has been said, something that would sell for a good profit.

 

Agree - seems like a penance piece to me, esp. the "evil passions to subdue" as @Debora pointed out.
Kind of an early 19thc version of what Bart Simpson writes on the blackboard every week ..

 

Thanks for the comments. To follow up, the framing is not original from when made, but circa 1960's in my opinion, back is still sealed. Put some closeups and after finding out what it is (!), it does look like cross stitch needlepoint on fine linen backing. I agree linen looks handmade, and don't really question the authenticity of the date. Closeups hopefully show stitches and how fine the linen is. I measure about 60 threads per inch! So if this wasn't done by a child, it was done by someone with extremely good eyesight! I don't see any marks on the linen so wonder if this was done free-hand?

I'm really clueless with genealogy; could someone who knows the ropes see if there is anything to be found on this Eliza Christina Pring in 1837? Not really sure who the genealogy wizards here are - maybe @Jivvy @Debora @Bakersgma ?

 

1837??? I thought that said 1887.

When I tried to look for her yesterday on Ancestry, using her whole name, the first person in the results was an Eliza Christina Pring who was baptised in London England in 1833 at the age of 12, both parents already deceased. But the next record was a death in Kent, England in 1839.

Lots of other Eliza Prings, though, as was mentioned above, and very few of the entries gave a middle name.

 

Ah... This explains a lot. (And as I wrote above, the choice of text was likely to provide information about source.) This was a letter of inquiry written in 1905.

"RULES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. -- I remember that in my youth, and later, there were in every bedroom in this house, and in many other homes, a framed set of rules of Christian life. It began thus: --

Christian, remember
That thou hast to-day
A God to glorify,
A soul to save, &c."

https://books.google.com/books?id=Y...stian remember that thou hast to-day"&f=false

Debora

 

And there was a religious tract entitled 'Christian, remember that thou hast to-day' written by the Religious Tract Society of Great Britain and published in the 1820s that might be source of quotation.

https://www.worldcat.org/title/christian-remember-that-thou-hast-to-day/oclc/82758418

And here's information on the Religious Tract Society. As I thought... Protestant but evangelical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Tract_Society

Debora

 

Cross stitch and needlepoint are two different things.