Much of my ancestral research has focused on discovering the ancestors and descendants of one of my immigrant ancestors, William Howlett, and his four brothers, who emigrated together from Bramfield, Suffolk, England, to Prince Edward Island in 1827. This research has taken me far and wide and has helped me to meet many wonderful distant cousins, Evelyn McQuaid, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, wrote to me in 1989 that she had seen a picture of a Howlett sampler in Country Home magazine. I sent for a copy of the appropriate issue (August 1985).

The Howlett sampler was featured clearly and prominently as part of a tasteful wall display of many old samplers. Along with the usual alphabet, it included the following information:

XXX ANN HOWLETT o LITTLE RIVER LOT 56 XXX

XXX JUNE 10, 1849 o AGED 20 YEARS THE 18 OF XXX

->>>> NEXT NOVEMBER <<<<-

From previous research about the descendants of the immigrant Howletts, I immediately placed this Ann Howlett as the daughter of James and Ann (Finch) Howlett. James was the oldest brother of my own ancestor, William Howlett. Ann later married William Powell and had five children, several of whom have present-day descendants. Curiosity led me to try to find out where the sampler was located.

I first wrote to the magazine. I received a nice note which stated that the staff "unfortunately (could) not find a source for the sampler. Many times the items we show in our magazine are antiques and the owners do not have a source for them." I wrote again, explaining that whether or not the origin of the sampler was known, my major interest was to find its current location. Further checking revealed that the Meredith Corporation which publishes Country Home, "publishes many magazines, and sometimes magazines will pick up material from one magazine and use it in another. This is what happened in this case. The photograph was first used in the book Living the Country Life and then we picked it up to use. (The staff) checked with the book department . . . to confirm they did not have a source for the samplers shown in the photograph. Unfortunately there was nothing in the file that said anything about where the photograph was taken or (about) the samplers."

Not wishing to give up, I called the Meredith Corporation. Since the company is large, it took quite a few phone calls over a couple of weeks to ascertain whom I should speak to and to actually contact the person. I eventually spoke with the managing editor of the book division and then to the field director who organizes the photograph sessions. After explaining my interest, a supervisor told me that the sampler was displayed in the home of a tailor in the Chicago area. The supervisor would contact her to see if she would agree to have me call or write.

Soon, I received the name and phone number of the St. Louis woman who owns the sampler. When I explained the reason for my interest. She graciously related that this was the first sampler she had bought and that she had acquired it in Milwaukee about twenty years earlier from the back of an antique shop, where it had been long forgotten. She had immediately fallen in love with its still-vivid colors and wonderful details. In fact, this example had kindled her passion for collecting old samplers. An avid antique collector, she often displays it and enters it in contests. She said that she had even put the sampler in her will to pass it down to her daughter. She sent me photographs of the sampler (which I could not supply here because of copyright issues).

She was happy to learn the history of the sampler, and I was happy to know its whereabouts and to know that, even if it was not in the hands of a Howlett descendant, it was indeed in very good hands!