Artifacts

Eliza Hazard was most likely the daughter of Josiah (or Jonah) Hazard and 13 when she completed this sampler. Married first to Charles Hendrickson who died about 1824, Eliza married second Charles Green (1782-1859) of Ewing Township. They had seven children, including twins. By 1850, Charles was a farmer with $16,000 worth of real estate, and four of their children were still in the household. Charles died in 1859 and by 1860 Eliza, with $22,000 in property, was noted as a “lady” on the census. She moved in with her daughter, Amanda, in Trenton before 1870. Eliza passed away in 1882 and was buried at the First Presbyterian Church of Ewing Cemetery alongside her husband. 

The Trenton Academy opened in 1782 on Fourth Street, later known as Academy Street. According to A History of Trenton, 1679-1929, “a girls school was added in 1787 under the care of Mrs. John Mease [the minister’s wife]…In 1800, the girls’ school was moved to the brick schoolhouse in the Presbyterian church yard, this building being leased at $1.00 per year for the purpose and a second story added.”

Eliza Hazard’s sampler is an example of needlework from this school. Motifs include the brick building (possibly a rendition of the school house) on a striated lawn, birds perched on a rose bush, an arcaded vine border, and hymn by Phillip Doddridge, D.D. (1702-1751). A humorous touch is the fruit basket dangling from a large curving branch, and the tiny barking dog next to the building. Eliza stitched two alphabets vertically alongside the central field. The one at left is executed in Roman-style Quaker letters, and the one at right is in upper case script.

Another sampler, stitched by Elizabeth Scudder in 1808, does not name the school but has enough stylistic designs to form a firm attribution. It can be found here: Elizabeth Scudder (1808)

Description adapted from Hail Specimen of Female Art! New Jersey Schoolgirl Needlework, 1726-1860, Morven Museum & Garden (2014)