Low Sisters

Reuniting sister samplers is a very special opportunity - you get to see the similarities and also where their individuality comes out. For these two sisters, it is quite obvious that Elisabeth was the younger when she stitched her sampler. The motifs are a bit less precise, the stitching a bit less uniform and the overall sampler a bit less balanced. Mary's peacocks are balanced and symmetrical, her stitches more crisp, her motifs less folksy.

The sisters are the daughters of James Low and Elisabeth Mitchel, both born in Perthshire. James was the schoolmaster in St Madoes when the couple were married 30 December 1795 in Edinburgh; the Rev'd David Black, Minister of Lady Yester's Church officiated. James then became schoolmaster in Forgandenny, Perthshire. The marriage produced John Ogilvie Low (1804), Elisabeth (1809), Mary (1812) and Isabella (1816). On a recent trip to Scotland we went to Forgandenny - the house the family lived in is still there and still right next door to the school house. Isabella married John Robertson, a teacher from Glasgow in 1847.

Genealogical research was difficult until we found the death record of brother, John Ogilvie Low, in 1873. It was witnessed by his nephew Thomas Halley, leading us to the marriage of Elisabeth to Andrew Halley 1841 at the ripe age of 32. From there we have found the information on both girls as listed on their individual pages. Elisabeth joined our collection first and it was very exciting four years later to find Mary's sampler. Maybe someday we will find one done by Isabella.