Sampler (Fancy sampler)

Description

This is a silk on linen fancy sampler worked in 1805 by Phebe Bratton (or Bratten) of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Leah Bratten Galligher's twin sister, Raphel Bratten Armstrong, was also a needlework teacher in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She and her husband, William, may have taught in the Galligher School. By 1805, however, they were operating their school, after Leah and Francis Galligher had left town. This sampler was worked by Leah and Rachel's niece Phebe when she was twenty-two years old. Since that is a fairly late age to be working a sampler, Phebe might have been teaching her aunt or perhaps honing her skills to open a school of her own. Phebe Bratton's sampler remained in the family until it was donated to Winterthur by her great-granddaugther. Note the similarity to the oval designs from Ann Marsh's School.