Worked in silk on loose weave linen in eyelet and cross stitch technique, with alphabet bands above Susanna Oaks Born September 18th 1808 / and marked this sampler at Germanna July 1817, with pious verse below, Great God how terrible art Thou / To sinners e're so young / Grant me thy grace and teach me / To tame and rule my tongue, with flowering plant motifs to one side, presented under glass in an old wooden Oxford frame.

The maker's verse is from Divine and Moral Songs for Children by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), an English hymn writer and theologian recognized as the "Father of English Hymnody."

Frame size 22.5 x 22.5 in.

The Estate of the late Dr. Larry Southworth, Fredericksburg, Virginia

Germanna was a settlement of German immigrants established in 1714 by Colonial Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood to provide labor for his ironworks. At the time, Germanna was the westernmost outpost of the colony. By the early 19th century, when Susanna would have been stitching this sampler, the German settlers had dispersed and blended into all parts of the Southeastern United States. Now Germanna has disappeared into the suburbs west of Fredericksburg, Virginia, though Historic Germanna preserves some of its historic sites.

Significant fading; some stitch and letter loss; discoloration; fraying to edges; frame missing one corner finial. Not examined out-of-frame.