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Lot Essay
Catharine worked her sampler during the golden age of Newport sampler embroidery, 1765-1795. The teacher responsible for these lively, naturalistic, and many-peopled patterns remains unknown but the style she established was perpetuated throughout Rhode Island by her students who later became teachers.
Most notable was Mary Balch (1762-1831) who became a famous school-mistress in Providence and who was unquestionably a classmate of Catharine Congdon. The basic format of Mary Balch's Newport sampler of 1773 soon appeared in the work of her students. It is also evident on Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island samplers made under the instruction of Anne Bowman Usher and Martha Pease Davis who were born and educated in Newport.
For the 1773 Newport samplers by Mary Balch, another Catherine Congdon, and Rebecca Wilbor, see "Mary Balch's Newport Sampler," Antiques, (September 1983), pp.500-507, Pls. I, VII, and Fig.4. See also Ring, Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee (Providence, 1983), p.70, fig.11.
Vital Records of Charleston, Rhode Island show Catherine Congdon born on 31 March 1759. She was the daughter of John and Sarah Congdon, and may be the Catey Congdon who later married Peleg Cross, Jr. on 28 June 1781.
Most notable was Mary Balch (1762-1831) who became a famous school-mistress in Providence and who was unquestionably a classmate of Catharine Congdon. The basic format of Mary Balch's Newport sampler of 1773 soon appeared in the work of her students. It is also evident on Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island samplers made under the instruction of Anne Bowman Usher and Martha Pease Davis who were born and educated in Newport.
For the 1773 Newport samplers by Mary Balch, another Catherine Congdon, and Rebecca Wilbor, see "Mary Balch's Newport Sampler," Antiques, (September 1983), pp.500-507, Pls. I, VII, and Fig.4. See also Ring, Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee (Providence, 1983), p.70, fig.11.
Vital Records of Charleston, Rhode Island show Catherine Congdon born on 31 March 1759. She was the daughter of John and Sarah Congdon, and may be the Catey Congdon who later married Peleg Cross, Jr. on 28 June 1781.