Lydia Kephart

A large, beautifully composed and executed sampler, this was worked by Lydia Kephart in 1829. She was living in Doylestown, located about 25 miles north of Philadelphia and her sampler is the finest one known of a very small group of similar samplers that share specific characteristics. They were made in Bucks County in the 1820s and 1830s.

The sampler features outstanding color and a balanced design, beautifully contained within handsome and complex borders. Included in the composition are many engaging details. The trees are highly detailed, the lawn was beautifully worked in lustrous satin-stitch, and the three plump birds seem suspended on the linen. Lydia was clearly a highly accomplished needleworker.

The verse is one of the most appealing that we find on schoolgirl samplers; it speaks to the process of samplermaking, the "labour of my youthfull hands" and the fact that "perseverance brought me through".

Lydia was born in 1815, the daughter of Jacob and Magdalena (Ruth) Kephart of Doylestown, Bucks County; they were members of the Doylestown Mennonite Congregation. Her grandfather, Jacob Kephart (1751-1822), was a highly regarded Mennonite minister and Revolutionary War patriot. He was born in Switzerland and brought to Philadelphia as a very young child, on the ship Edinburgh sailing in 1754. Jacob served in the historic crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 and battles at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778. 

In 1839, Lydia married George Geil, a farmer from Doylestown and they had at least one child, a son born in 1843. She died in 1875 and is buried in Doylestown Mennonite Church Cemetery along with her parents and grandparents. 

The sampler is in excellent condition. It was worked in silk on linen and has been conservation mounted into a figured maple frame.