Deborah Longacre

A handsome alphabet sampler with strong, classic Quaker characteristics, this was made by a young girl who was likely attending a Friends school. From its earliest day of settlement by Europeans, Pennsylvania was dedicated to the peaceful and fruitful coexistence of people of many different religions, and families who emigrated from many different countries and cultures lived in close proximity. The Longacre family would have fit right in. According to History of the Longacre -Longaker – Longenecker Family (Lutheran Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1902), the colonial ancestors of this family were Huguenots, German Quakers and English Quakers who fled to Switzerland during the Spanish Inquisition. They emigrated to Pennsylvania between 1722 and 1733, settling in Montgomery, Chester and Lancaster Counties. 

The sampler is signed along the bottom, “Deborah Longacre’s Work Dec 11th 1835 Mont County,” and she stitched her initials boldly near the upper corners. She was born in 1821 to Christopher Ziegler Longacre (1786-1860) and his wife, Catherine (Rodenbush) Longacre (1790-1833). The published family genealogy informs us that Christopher was a successful farmer of Upper Providence Township, Montgomery County. Deborah married Andrew Bauer, a farmer, and they remained in Montgomery County where they had six children. Deborah died in 1896. 

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in very good condition with areas of loss to the linen in the four corners. The needlework is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame.