RARE,IMP RICHMOND,VIRGINIA FAMILY 1834 SAMPLER-LG.HOUSE

This large and spectacular (24x28!) sampler is from one of Richmond, Virginia's most historic families..... FROM THE FAMILY OF FAMOUS REVEREND, WILLIAM HENRY HART, WHO TOOK CHARGE OF ST. JOHN's CHURCH AT RICHMOND HILL, VIRGINIA IN 1815......the very church where the Virginia Convention assembled in 1775, and Patrick Henry gave his fiery speech; "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH". Reverend William Hart married in 1815 in Richmond to Lydia Hubbard Moore....sister of Bishop Moore of Virginia. His daughter Julia, who worked this rare and important Richmond Virginia  schoolgirl sampler, was born on June 5, 1820 at Richmond Hill; her baptism recorded in the Henrico County Records;......one of 7 children, she was baptised by her uncle the Virginia Bishop; "BAPTISED AT RICHMOND JULY 20, 1820 BY REV.MOORE JULIA ANN BORN JUNE 5,1820; DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM HENRY HART AND LYDIA HART". Julia worked her impressive sampler in 1834 at one of the Richmond female boarding schools, and  married there in Richmond soon after at merely 18 years of age, to a wealthy local tobacco merchant.....Joseph Davis Evans of Lynchburg. He has tobacco plantations throughout the area. On page 242 of the "ANNALS OF HENRICO COUNTY (by Joseph Staunton Moore)", their marriage is recorded; "IN ST.JOHN'S CHURCH, RICHMOND JUNE 5, 1838....JOSEPH D. EVANS OF LYNCHBURG AND JULIA ANN HART OF RICHMOND".
          Samplermaker Julia and her wealthy merchant husband had 7 children.....and their first 3 children were born in Richmond where they were married. After the birth of their first 3 children, Julia's husband relocated the family to New York about 1850 to expand his business. The first 3 children, born in Richmond Virginia, were LYDIA MOORE EVANS BORN 1842, JULIA MILLICENT EVANS BORN 1844, and WILLIAM ALLISON EVANS BORN 1845. By the time the family relocated to New York husband Joseph was a Master Mason.......raised first in the Marshall Lodge #39 in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1842,then affiliated with St. John's Lodge in Richmond by 1844. By 1852 after he had moved to New York City/Brooklyn for his tobacco business, he had become a Master Mason in the Brooklyn Anglo-Saxon Lodge. Samplermaker Julia passed away in the latter 1800s, and her tribute by the Masons is recorded in the  Freemason's Monthly Magazine, edited by Charles Whitlock Moore;"...we are deeply pained to be called upon to record the death of the estimable wife of our friend and beloved brother Joseph Davis Evans, past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York....She died on the 17th of November....daughter of the late Rev. William Henry Hart, Rector of St. John's Church Richmond Virginia....which was the native place of the deceased (Julia Hart Evans)".
     Julia's impressive Virginia schoolgirl needlework showcases  her considerable talent with a needle developed from years at her Richmond female academy;with a gregarious and animated format similar to other Richmond house samplers. A picture of one example, included with the information on back, was worked by Mary Jane Glenn in 1831 with a typical Richmond area hipped-roof brick house and animated foreground; while the second example is displayed in Kim Ivy's book on Virginia samplers, page 10....the fabulous Richmond tribute to Lafayette with similar arcaded border, 2 chimneyed brich house, and animated sky and foreground. The sky above the house on the example I am offering by Julia Hart, is not animated with birds, but with stars and flying insects featuring double wings and "V" antennae.....such insects also found on the highly animated Richmond bedcover illustrated on page 79 of Kim's book on Virginia samplers. Julia's sampler is large (24x28) and visually impacting, with the most sensational Richmond style brick house that itself is 8x8 inches in size! The tree to the left of the house is quite unusual, and the one to the right of the house, including the placement in the branches of the 2 birds, is also reminiscent of those on the Waring sampler pictured on page 4 of Kim's Virginia book; stitched just across the river in Essex County.Julia has also has included a lengthy verse titled "Hymn", and so many more  visual elements, making this not only rare and important but exception visually. Her inscription below the generously proprtioned house resds; "Julia Hart Completed This Sampler December 19th 1834 In The 14th Year Of Her Age". The sampler is in extremely fine condition, conserved in its original Virginia pine frame with mahogany veneer and old ripply glass....with only very minor imperfections and age toning. The format of this Virginia schoolgirl masterpiece is dramatic and visually commanding, enhanced furthur by it's rare and important Southern history and provenance......It is an absolute treasure for the Southern collector or historian, and will turn heads from across a large room.