Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Needlework Sampler with Baltimore Masonic Hall
1827
Caroline Notherman (b. ca. 1816)
USA: Maryland, Baltimore
Silk on linen
overall: 20 in x 20 1/2 in x 1 in
Museum Purchase with the assistance of the Kane Lodge Foundation
2008.008

Framed needlework sampler on 28-count natural linen. Outer border in an ocean wave pattern cross-stitched in green. Inner border is a flowering vine cross-stitched in green with peach and pink flowers. Central image is a building labeled, "Masonic Hall" in dark brown cross-stitch at center top. Building itself is cross-stitched in tan with three cream pillars across front and several large windows in gray and yellow (two are curved at top). The building sits on several rows of green grass stitched in long-arm cross-stitch. In the middle of the grass is a row of yellow with two straight and satin stitch snakes. There is a brown dog with white spots (in satin stitch) at each side of the building, and a tree on each side beyond the dog. Both trees have cross-stitched trunks in brown. The tree on the left has green leaves in lazy daisy stitch; the tree on the right is cross-stitched in two shades of green and then outlined. Above the building is a floral spray with green vines and leaves (in satin stitch and lazy daisy stitches). The spray shows a variety of flowers in peach, cream, dark blue and yellow. Cross-stitched in dark brown above the floral spray is "Caroline Notherman." Cross-stitched in dark brown below the building and grass is "April. the 18th. Anno. Domino. 1827." There is a single row of dark brown cross-stitch below the lettering.

Caroline Notherman was born in Baltimore around 1816, the daughter of George Notherman. George was a shoe and boot maker and seller in the city between 1814 and 1837. He was raised a Master Mason in Union Lodge No. 60 in 1824, but demitted in 1829. Caroline married William Jones Jr. in Baltimore on January 5, 1837. According to the 1850 U.S. Census, the couple was living in Sussex County, Delaware, where William was a merchant. They had three children living with them at the time, along with Caroline's brother, J.W. Notherman, who is listed as a clerk. By 1860, William and Caroline Jones had moved to Brooklyn, NY where William continued to work as a merchant. Their household included 13 people - their children, a servant, and some of Caroline's relatives. The 1870 Census lists William Jones as a dry goods merchant with real estate worth $10,000. The sampler depicts the Baltimore Masonic Hall, which was begun in 1814 and used by the city's Masons from 1822 to 1868. From 1822 to 1867, the lower floor was used by the Federal Court of Baltimore. The building was demolished in 1895.