Now I feel an urgency...

Several weeks ago I received an email from a gentleman...

He had stumbled upon my blog posting, 

the day that I shared photos

 of my Mary Wrigley sampler.  

You may recall,

 this is the first antique American sampler

 that I purchased.  

 I fell in love with her colors

 and 

the farm girl in me,

fell in love

with the

rooster motifs.  

 The email went on to read

 that this gentleman 

was a direct descendant of Robert and Mary Kay Wrigley,

 from Clearfield, PA.  

 They would be the parents

 to the Mary

that stitched the below sampler. 

 You can only imagine my total excitement

 in regards to this email.

  I had a person to connect 

this sampler to

 and that is pretty cool.

He went onto to say 

that they own a sampler made by Mary's mother,

 Mary Kay. 

 The sampler is dated 1806. 

 This gentleman's great great grandfather

 was a brother to the Mary

 that stitched my Mary. 

  Are you confused yet? 

 Yes, 

mother and daughter

 share the same name.

  The mother's sampler, 

was unfortunately damaged by water

 from a house fire 

many years ago,

 but is still quite readable. 

   He was curious

 how the daughter's sampler

 made it's way from Clearfield, PA

 into my hands,

 here in Iowa. 

  I purchased the sampler

 from a antique dealer

 out of Wisconsin,

 at a Minnesota antique fair....

If only we knew

 how she got from there to here...

what were her stops along the way? 

 Did she spend many years

 just hanging in an antique shop? 

 Maybe so. 

  It is really sad 

that something such

 as this 

gets out of the hands of family. 

 These are family heirlooms.  

  A part of me now feels guilty

 owning this...

She should be with family. 

  I feel the urgency

 to reproduce this into a chart,

 so a reproduced Mary Wrigley 1834 

can go home,

 to hang upon the same wall,

as her mother's sampler.

The sampler hangs on the wall next to my stitching settee. 

 This is where I spend a great share of my time,

 when at home.  

 This is where 

I

 sit & stitch.  

 In between stitches,

 when my eyes need a break,

 I look at Mary for inspiration.

Only now,

 it is

 with wonderment

 of what her mother's sampler

 looks like...

  Are they similar?

  Are the colors similar? 

 And of course,

I must wonder,

 does it have 

roosters

 on it?

Have a good day,
Brenda