Once Upon a Time, a Cross-Stitch Sampler Counted as Official Paperwork

Are you good with paperwork? I am terrible with paperwork. Unfortunately, it’s doubtful any branch of the government—state, local or federal—still accepts cross-stitch samplers as documentation. So don’t send your embroidered baby pillow to the passport office.

According to the Tumblr of the U.S. National Archives:

The sampler is from the file of soldier John McKenzie. His wife Martha “Patsy” Bonner McKenzie of Georgia made the sampler, which shows she was born in 1775 and married John in 1792.

Widows occasionally used these as proof of marriage to claim a Revolutionary War widow’s pension, just as Martha did.

You get that money, Martha.