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Lot Essay
"As in the other American colonies, knowledge of girls' schools of the mid-eighteenth century in New York is also scant," and while a small grouping of related Biblical samplers was identified a little over a decade ago, little is known about other schools operating in the New York area (Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery (New York, 1993), p. 299).
This sampler, inscribed: Nancy Vredenburghs at Mount Tabor Academy, East Chester, in 14 Days, August 29th, 1838, offers new insight into one of the schools that must have been located in New York City during the mid-nineteenth century. Today, East Chester is part of the Northeastern Bronx, located west of the Hutchinson River. In the 1830's, it was still a very rural town with no railroad and the majority of travel operated by water rather than land. Many of the private boarding schools established in the eighteenth century by French Hugenots who had immigrated to New Rochelle, now part of Westchester, New York, taught young Dutch and English girls the art of embroidery and painting. Considering the close proximity of East Chester to these neighboring towns, Mount Tabor Academy may have been one of these exclusive schools.
While genealogical records during this time period list both a Thos Vredenburgh and Augustus Vredenburgh living in East Chester, New York in the late 1830's, no definitive relationship has yet been determined with Nancy Vredenburghs. Since the Dutch family name is a common one to the New York region, the spelling variation would suggest that these men were most likely distant relatives.
This sampler, inscribed: Nancy Vredenburghs at Mount Tabor Academy, East Chester, in 14 Days, August 29th, 1838, offers new insight into one of the schools that must have been located in New York City during the mid-nineteenth century. Today, East Chester is part of the Northeastern Bronx, located west of the Hutchinson River. In the 1830's, it was still a very rural town with no railroad and the majority of travel operated by water rather than land. Many of the private boarding schools established in the eighteenth century by French Hugenots who had immigrated to New Rochelle, now part of Westchester, New York, taught young Dutch and English girls the art of embroidery and painting. Considering the close proximity of East Chester to these neighboring towns, Mount Tabor Academy may have been one of these exclusive schools.
While genealogical records during this time period list both a Thos Vredenburgh and Augustus Vredenburgh living in East Chester, New York in the late 1830's, no definitive relationship has yet been determined with Nancy Vredenburghs. Since the Dutch family name is a common one to the New York region, the spelling variation would suggest that these men were most likely distant relatives.