Sampler

Artist/Maker
Echols, Sarah
Place Made
Halifax County Virginia United States of America
Date Made
1807
Medium
silk on linen
Dimensions
HOA: 12″; WOA: 6 1/2″
Accession Number
5963
Description
Sarah Echols was born on May 18, 1785 to John Echols (1754-1817) and Frances (Formby) Echols in Halifax County, Virginia. In 1810, while still living in Halifax County, John Echols purchased over 190 acres of land in Williamson County, Tennessee. In 1811, Sarah married Edmund Wall (1785-1850) in Halifax County, Virginia. However, by 1812, they were in Tennessee where their son John Echols Wall (1812-1851) was born. According to the inventory of the estate of Edmund Wall at his death in 1850, there were six enslaved people in the household. Sarah died nine years later at the age of 74 and is buried in the Boyd Family Cemetery in Bingham, Williamson County, Tennessee.

This small marking sampler is inscribed “Sarah Echols Her Marking Sampla 1807”. Sarah was twenty-two years old at its completion.

DESCRIPTION: A single row of cross stitches tops the sampler using brown silk that is consistent throughout the piece. Three alphabet sequences using cross and eyelet stitches are followed by the initials M T A. “Sarah Echols Her Marking Sampla 1807” is inscribed below followed with a numerical sequence along the bottom row.

History
This sampler descended in the maker’s family through Sarah’s grandson, Charles Fleming Wall, Jr. to Sadie Pollard, to Sarah Elizabeth Tulloss Vinson, and then to the donor.
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. Richard Warwick, President of Willamson County Historical Society