Laura Goodale: Early American Historian? The Document Sixteen-year-old Laura Goodale, daughter of Chester and Asenath Goodale, stitched this family record with its strawberry and vine border around 1809. Her mother submitted the sampler with her widow’s pension application as proof of her marriage to Chester Goodale — a Revolutionary War veteran. For her husband’s service to his country, Asenath was awarded a pension of $50 a year. Enlarge Sampler of Chester Goodale, ca. 1809; Revolutionary War