ROXBOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA PICTORIAL NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER, silk on linen, center with a four-row verse of "While o'er this desert world I roam / Teach me to seek a better home / Unchangd by woe Unchangd by / Years Unlike this gloomy vale of / tears" surrounded by several motifs including flowers, birds, trees, and baskets, signed "Martha Levering.s work done in the 16 year of her / age 1828", all encompassed by a scrolling flowering-vine border. Housed under UV glass and conservation mounted in modern frame. Lot includes a copy of M. Finkel & Daughter, "Samplings: XXXI", 2007 with genealogical research. Dated 1828. 18" x 15 3/4" sight, 20 3/4" x 18 1/2" OA. Very good overall condition with light toning, light fading and fugitive color to some thread, a few scattered losses to thread including one stem of potted flower along center right side, a mended hole next to tree in lower right corner, frame with minor wear. Holes along edge from stretcher mounting. Not examined out of frame. Published: M. Finkel & Daughter - Samplings: XXXI, p. 30. Provenance: From the collection of Nick Routson, Phoenix, AZ.M. Finkel & Daughter, 2/14/2008 (retains dealer label). Catalogue Note: Martha Levering was born on October 19, 1811 to parents Thomas Levering (1771-1852) and Hannah Stott (1771-1829), who married in 1793. The family resided in Roxborough, Philadelphia, PA. Martha married Richard Nelson Kelly (1805-1847) of Roxborough on April 5, 1832. They moved to Piqua, Miami Co., Ohio and had five children. Martha died on January 21, 1867 and is buried in the Ayersville Cemetery, Ayersville, Defiance Co., OH. M. Finkel & Daughter wrote "[t]he history of the Levering family has deep roots in the area just west of Philadelphia, along the Schuylkill River. Two Levering brothers and their families emigrated from Germany in 1685, settling initially in Germantown and later removing to Roxborough. Martha Levering, the maker of this sampler was one of the ten children of Thomas Levering, a blacksmith, farmer and deacon of the Roxborough Baptist Church and his wife, Hannah Stott, of nearby Montgomery County. The family lived above the Leverington Hotel, which had been established in 1732 and remained in family hands until 1858."