A Needlework Sampler, Signed Kezia Ridgeway, Salem County, New Jersey, or Possibly Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dated 1800

executed in blue, green, gold, brown and white silk in a variety of stitches including Algerian eye, cross, queen, long-armed cross, stem, tent, outline, crosslet, and hem laced with black silk on a linen ground with bands of alphabets over two birds perched on a stylized vase of flowers, the outer border with floral blossoms, inscribed Kenzia Ridgeway her Sampler 1800.

The Joan Stephens Collection of Important Samplers and Pictorial Needlework, Sotheby's, sale 6942, lot 2088, January 19, 1997

Joseph Pace, 1984

small loss to upper left corner; discolored as pictured; small frays to bottom
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Kezia Ridgeway has not been identified but her likely location is determined by her sampler's unmistakably common origin with a sampler worked by Sarah Groff, a Salem County, New Jersey girl.  Five samplers survive from the hands of Sarah Groff and her sisters, Lettisha and Deborah.  For Sarah's samplers, see Ring, American Needlework Treasures, Vol. I, figs. 60, 61; for Lettisha's sampler of 1798, Beatrice B. Garvan, The Pennsylvania German Collection, p. 277; Deborah's sampler of 1807 is described in Bolton and Coe, American Samplers, p.166.

Circumstantial evidence suggests that Kezia was the eldest child of Isaac Ridgeway and Kezia Pedrick who were married in 1789 but disowned by the Friends' Salem Monthly Meeting in 1791, shortly after the likely birth of Kezia, and resulting in the omission of her birth record.  Membership was restored by the birth of their son David in 1804.   Kezia and the Groff sisters may have attended the same Philadelphia school, for their samplers bear some relationship to Philadelphia work; or they were taught by the same schoolmistress in Salem County.