Harmony D. Curtis

A sampler with strong appeal, this was made by nine-year-old Harmony Dillany Curtis who lived in Worthington, Massachusetts. She was born on March 26, 1822, the daughter of Elijah Curtis, a farmer, and his wife Polly (Benjamin) Curtis who were married there in 1816. Harmony’s grandfather, James Benjamin (1757-1821), served as a private in the Revolutionary War. 

The town is located about 100 miles west of Boston in Hampshire County, the town was described in the 1839 New England Gazetteer as “pleasantly situated on elevated ground … washed by a branch of the Westfield River” and with a population of 1,142.

In 1856, Harmony married, as his third wife, Milton Nash, a farmer from the nearby town of Hinsdale and she died there in 1861.

The palette employed by Harmony is an interesting and unusual one: dark brown with accents of teal and peach, as found on the delightful little log house and border. The four-line verse, extolling the virtues of “busy hands,” furthers the appeal of this sampler. Line end elements include geometric motifs and a single and double heart. 

Worked in silk on linen, the sampler is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a beveled maple frame.