Katharine Eliza Peters,

We love the fact that George Washington continued to be honored by American samplermakers for decades into the 19th century. Katharine Eliza Peters, age 7 and living in Litchfield County, Connecticut stitched Washington’s name in large, varied-colored uppercase letters across her delightful sampler. Her teacher is also named on the sampler: Sally A. Chamberlin, followed by the abbreviation for instructress. 

The two stanzas of poetry are by William Cowper and they speak to the notion of the restorative power of nature. Alongside these, Katharine stitched three motifs, one with the initials EP. It’s possible that she used Eliza as her given name and considered these to be her initials. 

Katharine was born on September 22, 1827, the second of five children of Eber and Harriet (Winegar) Peters. The Peters family had been in Litchfield County for generations and Katharine’s grandfather was an ironworker and owner of a foundry as well as much land. In 1848, Katharine married Walter Sherman Booth (1827-1901), in Kent and they had five children. Walter was an author and publisher who attended Trinity College and taught in Connecticut. 

By 1861, the family headed west, settling in Rochester, Olmsted County, Minnesota, where Walter studied law. He held many civic positions including county commissioner, and justice of the peace and became well known for the many law books and law manuals that he wrote and published. Many of these became standards for many years, in both Minnesota and Dakota Territory. The file that accompanies the sampler contains photocopies from many published sources. 

Katharine died in 1903; Walter predeceased her in 1901. They are buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Rochester. 

We also researched Sally A. Chamberlin, as we hadn’t known of this instructress previously. She was most likely Sally Ann Chamberlin who was born in 1810 to Rev. Salmon and Orilla (White) Chamberlin of nearby New Milford, Connecticut. Sally was related to Walter Booth and the families may have known one another, although of course, Katharine didn’t marry Walter for many years. Sally married late, after 1854, and certainly may have taught school prior to that. 

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

photo of reverse