Elisabeth Beaty

An excellent scene of a red brick house with a blue and white checkerboard roof dominates this delightful sampler. Flanking the house is a diamond patterned fence with pine trees and a pair of squirrels. The band along the top features flowering plants and blue birds with geometric stars at either end. Interspersed with the rows of blue alphabets is a band of handsome bellflowers. The graphic border is unusual and provides an excellent visual framework for the composition. The sampler is signed, “Elisabeth Beaty Finished Her Sampler Longtown October 11 1844.”

Elisabeth included family initials on her sampler and so we were able to identify her through research. She was born circa 1834, the daughter of Thomas and Janet Beaty – note the TB and JB above the pine trees at the left. The Beaty family lived in Longtown and the 1861 census shows Elisabeth, age 27, using her needleworking skills well, working as a dressmaker. 

Interestingly, Longtown is located just 3 miles from the Scottish border and the sampler shares characteristics with Scottish samplers. 

Worked in wool and silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a carved and black painted frame.