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Lot Essay
The sampler illustrated here wrought by Relief Shumway of Hardwick in 1822 at 10 years old may be related to a group of slightly earlier Portsmouth, New Hampshire samplers. Distinguished in their upper section by alphabetical registers and in their lower half by a house at the bottom left joined by a tree-set fence to a barn at the lower right, the Portsmouth samplers are further embellished by birds and floral baskets and a central wrought text reserve. The sampler illustrated here is distinguished from that group in its repeating geometric border and the hipped roofs of two structures; the Portsmouth group is framed in a meandering strawberry border, the houses have gabled roofs, and the barns are all fitted with martin houses.
Relief Shumway was born on January 12, 1812 to Perez Shumway (1773-1859) and Sarah Rogers Dwight Shumway (1778-1855) probably in Belchertown, Massachusetts where her father and maner of her syblings were also born. Although little information survives regarding Relief, there is ample documentation showing that many of her relatives, including both her father and several of her male syblings, were all born in Belchertown and died in Petersham, Massachusetts. Relief's elder half-brother, Deacon Zemira Flagg Shumway (1809-1876), was twice married in nearby Hardwick, Massachusetts, the name of the town that appears on the sampler illustrated here, thus suggesting an additional family connection to that central Massachusetts town.
The fourth child of Perez Shumway and first born of his union with Sarah Dwight, Relief Shumway was later married on February 18, 1839 to Joseph Allen Gould. Joseph and Relief Shumway Gould had four children, two surviving to adulthood.
Relief Shumway was born on January 12, 1812 to Perez Shumway (1773-1859) and Sarah Rogers Dwight Shumway (1778-1855) probably in Belchertown, Massachusetts where her father and maner of her syblings were also born. Although little information survives regarding Relief, there is ample documentation showing that many of her relatives, including both her father and several of her male syblings, were all born in Belchertown and died in Petersham, Massachusetts. Relief's elder half-brother, Deacon Zemira Flagg Shumway (1809-1876), was twice married in nearby Hardwick, Massachusetts, the name of the town that appears on the sampler illustrated here, thus suggesting an additional family connection to that central Massachusetts town.
The fourth child of Perez Shumway and first born of his union with Sarah Dwight, Relief Shumway was later married on February 18, 1839 to Joseph Allen Gould. Joseph and Relief Shumway Gould had four children, two surviving to adulthood.