Eliza Ann Stockton’s needlework sampler tells us that she was born on the 19th of November, 1812. The initials that follow, DS, ES, and MAM represent her parents, Doughty Stockton (1776-1855) and Elizabeth Perkins Stockton (1778-1857) along with her sister, Mary Ann Stockton Mendenhall (1798-1858), who was fourteen years her senior. Of special interest is also the inclusion of her location of Stokes County, North Carolina.

The Stockton family were Quakers who had settled in the region by the 1790’s when Doughty Stockton wed Elizabeth Perkins, also a Quaker, who was born in Kernersville, North Carolina in 1778. Doughty and Elizabeth resided in the community and operated “The Stockton Inn”, about one mile west of town. Along with his sons, Doughty Stockton was a large landowner in the region, acquiring more than 3000 acres in his lifetime.

Eliza Ann’s sampler is exquisitely stitched with four alphabet series, various bands including one that is an Irish (or Flame) stitch, and an ambitious, yet perfectly executed floral border worked primarily in queen stitches. Following the fourth (and final) alphabet series, Eliza Ann stitched the phrase, “This is my last alphabet”, possibly indicating her relief in the completion of the exercise!

Research into the school and/or teacher that is responsible for Eliza Ann’s sampler is ongoing. In the obituary of an older sister, Nancy Doughty Stockton (1800-1884) it says she attended the school in Jamestown, under the tuition of Judith Mendenhall. Documented in the MESDA Craftsman Database, Judith Mendenhall opened a “Seminary of Learning” in Jamestown in 1815 that provided boarding. It is also clear that Judith and her family are prominent members of the Quaker Community. In 1826 the Greensboro Academy advertised that the Female Academy was under the direction of Miss Mendenhall and her “character and qualifications as a teacher are so well known, and therefore need no commendation, has taken charge of this institution…” A year later in 1827, (the date of Eliza Ann’s sampler), Miss Mendenhall was still in charge at the Greensboro Academy.

There are two whitework counterpanes related to the Stockton family in the MESDA textile collection. One counterpane was stitched by Martha Stockton Hunt (1837-1903), the niece of Eliza Ann Stockton, who resided in Guilford County, North Carolina. https://mesda.org/item/collections/whitework-coverlet/1553/. Descending in the same family is another whitework counterpane that was most likely made earlier (1820-1840), by either Martha’s mother, Sally Bell Stockton Hunt (1802-1878) or grandmother, Elizabeth Perkins Stockton (1778-1857). https://mesda.org/item/collections/whitework-coverlet/1554/