Ann Margaret Selser

While most schoolgirl samplers were made prior to about 1845, there were some teachers who continued the tradition into the second half of the 19th century. This engaging sampler was made in 1853 by Ann Margaret Selser in Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. We have known of a handful of excellent samplers made in that town, all featuring prominent red houses and baskets of flowers, and Ann’s sampler fits nicely into this group.

This branch of the Selser (also spelled Selzer and Seltzer) family began with Ann’s great-grandfather, Johan Michael Seltzer, who was born in Germany and emigrated in 1765. He sailed from Rotterdam on the ship, Chance, arriving in Philadelphia. Ann’s parents were Samuel and Christina (Ehrsman) Selser and History of Dauphin County Pennsylvania by Luther Reily Kelker (The Lewis Publishing Company, 1907) includes information about the family. Samuel worked as a cabinetmaker and carpenter and owned a sawmill in Middletown. Ann was born in 1840, the first of Samuel and Christina’s 10 children. In 1865, she married George William Heckaman and they had one child. Ann died in 1936 and is buried in Greenmount Cemetery in York, Pennsylvania. 

The sampler was worked in wool on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a molded and black painted frame.