The Alexanders of Lintrathen 1829 is available as a printed booklet and as a instant pdf download. For the download please click HERE.

There are times when I look at a sampler and my heart will skip a beat; this sampler caused my heart to skip several. There is so much going on in the sampler that my eyes ping ponged back and forth trying to absorb all that a child crammed into a piece of linen measuring 16 by 17 inches. The maker certainly had an eye for detail, and there are many extra touches worked into the sampler awaiting discovery.

At first, I thought that there was no name contained within the sampler, but a closer examination revealed, in the right-hand border, the names of John Alexander and Helen Spaden. The left-hand border revealed the initials: MA, MA, JA, JA, MA, HA, and JA. They are the children of John Alexander and Helen Spaden (Splading), who married on December 23, 1797. The Alexander children were baptised in the church at Bridgend of Lintrathen.

Margaret Alexander, baptised April 9, 1801

Maysie Alexander, baptised June 7, 1804

Jannet Alexander, baptised March 2, 1806

James Alexander, baptised March 19, 1809

Mary Alexander, baptised December 16, 1810

Hellen Alexander, baptised February 24, 1814

Jean Alexander, baptised December 3, 1815

There are a further four sets of initials, all worked in black. We suspect that they are deceased forebearers of John Alexander. The date 1829 has been recorded on the sampler, and we believe that it was most probably Jean, the youngest daughter, that stitched the sampler when she was 14 years of age.

We know of one other sampler that was stitched in Lintrathen. That sampler is in the Leslie B. Durst Collection. It does not bear the maker’s name but was probably stitched either by Betty or Jannet Fenton in 1825. The two samplers have much in common, and we believe that they were taught either in the same school or by the same needlework teacher.

In the 1851 census, Jean Alexander can be found living with her sister Mary. She is listed as a handloom weaver of linen. Handloom weaving was a family business; the trade being handed down through the generations. It is possible that the linen the sampler was stitched on was woven by an Alexander. Whilst the 1851 census contains the last official mention of Jean Alexander, the survival of the sampler she stitched as a child is her lasting legacy. Her sampler is a primary historical source document in its own right.

So often a woman’s needlework contains the only words of hers that survive!

Our grateful thanks to The Contented Stitcher who lovingly stitched the model for the Alexanders of Lintrathen. At the very core of Hands Across the Sea Samplers there is a team of needleworkers who are passionate about antique samplers and being able to share those samplers with you.

Our reproduction of The Alexanders of Lintrathen is dedicated to Leslie B. Durst.

Leslie is a philanthropist and passionate supporter of the arts who has assembled a remarkable collection of samplers from Europe and North America. The Leslie B. Durst Collection is one of the largest and most comprehensive private collections of needlework in the world. Through her generosity in sharing not only the samplers in her collection but also her knowledge, Leslie has done so much to further the appreciation, understanding, and interest in samplers, particularly for Scottish samplers. Discovering her collection really fired our interest in Scottish samplers, and we are most grateful to her.