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Sampler
Esther Engle 1824 New Jersey Silk thread on linen ground Gift of Elizabeth B. Case OBA 1971.002.0001 But dear girl both flowers and beauty Blossom fade and die away Then pursue good sense and duty Evergreens which ne'er decay Esther T Engle. Wrought in the 11th year of her age 1824 An Emblem of Love |
Verse sampler with Quaker spot motifs, both floral and geometric. A two-story brick house with a lawn, fir trees, weeping willows, and horses along the bottom edge.
Esther Troth Engle was born in 1813 to Quakers Aaron Engle (1764-1842) and his wife Esther Troth (1771-1851). She was the fourth of five children. In December 1833 Esther married George T. Browning, who was not of the Quaker faith. This caused her to be disowned by the Friends for "marrying contrary to discipline" and "marrying out". She was not alone, as her older sister Elizabeth married out in the same month as Esther. Esther and George had at least seven children together, with five surviving to adulthood. George died of consumption in 1860. A few years after his death Esther reached out to the Friends and completed the process to be accepted back into the Quakers, including a written apology. Esther died in 1875, having acquired several houses and plots of land on Stevens Street in Camden, NJ. Three of her children, Aaron, Elizabeth, and George, received houses and land, while the remaining two, Susan and Paul, are mentioned in her will. |
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Silhouette of Esther T. Engle, c. 1830
OBA 1971.003.0001 |
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Esther's apology to the Friends, 1865.
To Upper Evesham Monthly Meeting Dear Friends, Whereas, I the undersigned, having had a birthright and education in the religious society of Friends, but through unfaithfulness have so far deviated as to accomplish my marriage contrary to discipline, with one not in membership, which deviation I condemn, and am sorry for, the trouble I have given you, sincerely desiring to be reinstated in the soceity, and by my future conduct be reconciled again to my friends. 2 mo. 9th 1865 Esther T. Browning |