Description:

This marking sampler has some wonderfully unique features and has remained very red!

Familial initials and names are interspersed within the alphabet bands. The area of motifs include peacocks, flowers, flowering bushes, a group of people (love the arms) and other types of birds. Note the wonderful honeycomb pattern containing crowns and initials. A three-masted sailing ship is centered along the bottom and identified with the name Ebenezer Donald, Capt of the Neptal - research indicates this is her maternal grandfather.

Initials: BS (black), RS (black), ES (black), WS, MS, JS, BS, IS, BS

Size (W x H): 12 3/4 x 17 1/2 inches

Stitches: Cross, eyelet, satin, chain

Media: Silk and wool on linen

Genealogy:

Margaret was born 28 October 1825 in Tulliallan, Perth. Her parents are listed as William Scotland, a grocer and ship owner, and Jean Donald, which appears to confirm the names and initials stitched on the sampler. William and Jean were married in 1814 and had nine children: Betty (1816), Robert (1818), Ebenezer (1820, after maternal grandfather), William (1822), James (1827), Jane (1829), Isabella (1832), Betsey (1835, after maternal grandmother).

Margaret married James Gibb Struth, a seaman and sailmaker, 3 December 1850. The couple had David (1851), William Scotland (1857), James (1864). She died in 1901, a widow, as witnessed by son William. 

Margaret's teacher, Mary Wyllie, listed her academy on Mercert Street in Pigots of Kincardine Parish.

Verse:

William Scotland
Jane Donald

Mary Wylie Teachers Kincardine

Ebenezer Donald, Cap^t of the Neptal

Margaret Scotland her sampler AGed 11y