Featured Help w/reading this needlework sampler

I'm hoping to gain a better understanding of this sampler. Of course I see the alphabet in uppercase and lowercase, the numbers, and then it looks like "River Nile April 1889." Next it looks like "Nanna from Nina" with the words Nanna and Nina done in different lettering styles. The stitching itself appears to be done in knitting yarn, such as wool.
The fabric has actually been nailed to a wooden board and then the whole thing framed under glass.
I believe I remember reading somewhere that stitchers would sometimes date their piece with a reference to a current event but I cannot find anything particularly notable about the river Nile from April 1889.
I would love to hear your thoughts!

 

maybe the family was posted to Egypt....

 

All I can think of is Churchill's book about the River War - in the Sudan, late 1880s'. There may have been a battle in April 1889???

 

I hadn't thought of the possibility of a personal connection rather than a historical event. Thanks for the suggestion!

I'll have to read up on that, thanks!

 

I'm wondering if 'NINA' was taking a cruise on the Nile and made this for 'NANNA' while passing the time while lying about the deck. It was a popular tourist cruise during that time.

 

I like that scenario

 

I don't see it.

 

I read too much Agatha Christie and it seems the upper classes during that era all did the Grand Tour of the Mediterranean and Egypt. Her husband was an archaeologist and she spent quite a bit of time there. The idea that this was done for Nanna by granddaughter Nina isn't so far off the mark.

 

IMO- I see a reference to the Nile, as others have, a trip or cruise remembrance piece. April 1989. I believe I’m seeing beside the NANNA a ( from ) centered under. The fonts are different all over. So my guess is it’s initials N, J, M, A I say the first letter is an N because I’d you look at the stitching accents on the M they are close but different. The second is a guess based on the font. Ps. I think the from is hard to read because in spots it looks like less strands or possibly worn from working it?

 

Nile or River Nile was a town in Texas.

"Named after the Egyptian River, Nile seems to have arrived alongside the tracks of the International and Great Northern Railroad in the late 1880s. A post office opened in 1890 and by 1892 fourteen people were receiving mail there. The economy was strong enough to support two cotton gins in the mid 1890s as well as a general store. By this time the population had risen to 35. By 1903 the one-teacher school taught forty-three students but by 1914 the population was back to 25 and the post office closed two years later. The school managed to stay open through 1946 when it was merged with the schools in Thorndale. Nile's history stops at this point. Today there is no sign of Nile on county maps; not even a cemetery."

The Milam County Historical Commission is available to answer questions about local history. Their web site is milamcountyhistoricalcomission.org. As yours is an early piece of county history, I'm sure they would be interested.

Debora

 

The people posting on this site never fail to teach me at least something new or worth filing in my head. Thank you today. I was thinking when I looked at it that there are two figures with flowers atop and I thought they might look Egyptian but also the Rooster, rabbit, duck and chicken gave me a feeling of farm life. Although many farmed for sustainability it still might be a clue in research.

 

Goodness, an old thread of mine from 2016 has resurfaced, thanks for your interest!

IMHO, it still appears to be the name NINA. The needleworker used an Old English style of alphabet, perhaps working from memory rather that a chart/guide. It seems obvious that this was stitched by a not-very-accomplished needleworker. It is worked completely in a very basic crosstitch.

That's an interesting angle! But from what I can find, the Texas town was named Nile, not River Nile, so why stitch "River Nile"?

Some better photos:

 

In reviewing this piece again, I noticed these small holes around the perimeter of the entire thing. Apparently it was tacked onto something at one time.

 

With an internet search, you will find contemporary accounts in which the town of Nile was referred to as River Nile.

Debora

 

.. and weren't cross-stitch patterns often published in periodical ladies' magazines? So the figures represented may not be personally significant. You may be over-thinking it.

 

I felt they were just generic symbols the child may have liked and therefore chose to incorporate.

 

Thank you, I didn’t come across that with just a couple minutes search. I will look further into it!

 

Not sure that I mentioned the size: 18” x 13”.

I’ve now noticed that along the bottom I can see tiny nails where it is attached to the backboard.
A few more photos since I have it out:

 

Maybe it's MIMA, short for JEMIMA.

 

I would think the images are things she saw daily in rural Texas -- sunflowers, jack rabbits, etc.

Debora