MAURY CO., TENNESSEE "LITTLE DOG GROUP" PICTORIAL NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER, wool and silk on linen, three alphabet and numeral rows segmented by horizontal bands of decorative stitching above a large floral vine dividing the sampler, the lower half with a four-line poem, "In wisdoms. ways you wisely seek / Five things observe with. / Of whom you speak to whom you speak / And how and when and. where", below signed "Martha A Stanfield MC / Tenn March th8 [sic] . 1851", flanked by two large baskets of flowers, lower left with a little black dog and the upper and lower right with birds, all encompassed by a wide floral vine border and a linear outer border. Housed under glass in a later frame. Dated 1851. 15 1/2" x 16 1/4" sight, 18 1/8" x 18 7/8" OA.
Literature: Parallels two 1850 samplers recorded by Tennessee Sampler Survey, one by Alice Louise Bauguss and the other sampler by Caroline (Callie) Elizabeth Chandler, both girls were from Maury Co., TN. Similar to ibid., 1846 sampler by Mary Elizabeth Terrell, who was from Williamson Co., her sampler is the only one so far in the "Little Dog Group" to name her instructress, "Mary de Patterson".
Catalogue Note: Likely identified as Martha Avarilla Stanfield who was born on October 12, 1835 in Williamson or Maury Co., TN to parents Jeremiah Warren Stanfield (1793-1853) and Elizabeth Banks Caldwell (1801-1863). As listed in dwelling and family no. 210 in the 1850 U.S. Census for District 21 of Maury Co., TN, Martha, who went by Avarilla, was recorded living with her parents and older brother, Silas, and showed she attended school within that year. Her father's occupation was recorded as "Hatter" and her brother's as "Farmer". She would had completed this sampler the following year at age 16.
On February 14, 1855, Martha married David Bunch Pickard (1834-c.1910), and the couple had at least eight children. The family moved from Maury Co. to Robertson Co. and, then, to Nashville, TN by 1880. After her husband died, Martha appears to have been living with one of her daughters, Ruth, in Oklahoma City, OK according to the 1910 U.S. Census. She is recorded as dying on November 23, 1917 in Birmingham, Alabama and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in that city.
Regarding the poem found on the sampler, in modern times, it is most well-known being featured in Little Town on the Prairie (1941) by famous American writer, Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957). In the book, Caroline "Ma" Ingalls wrote this verse to her daughter Laura in 1881. According to the 2013 article, "Sense and Sauciness" by Terry Marotta, the poem was featured in the 1851 issue of the Old Farmer's Almanac, which Martha Stanfield could have possibly seen during the making of this sampler. In "The rise and fall of the autograph book" (2017) by Violet Snow for Hudson Valley One, the poem was also written in an autograph book of Edith, Elizabeth Newcomer Keller's granddaughter. That verse was signed "B.W. / October 10, 1877 / Hagerstown High School", pre-dating Wilder's book.

Good to very good visual condition with toning and some stains, scattered losses to wool most notably to borders, some thread with light fading/fugitive color but the majority retaining good color, frame with some wear and other imperfections. Not examined out of frame.