Springtown, Polk Co.

Cynthia Emaline Ann Lea (1839-1921) was the last of six children born to John Lea and Jane Rogers. Her parents came from North Carolina to settle on a farm in the Springtown area (District 6), Polk County. Cynthia married Hugh Dickson Douglass in 1855. The couple lived in Cog Hill, McMinn County. Cynthia had four children by this marriage. After Hugh died in 1862, Cynthia married John Anderson Cavett in 1868. In 1870 they were living in Madisonville (District 10), Monroe Co., where John Cavett was a farmer. Cynthia gave birth to five more children. She died of cancer on Nov. 4, 1921, and is buried in West View Cemetery, Sweetwater, Monroe County.

Cynthia was twelve when she made her sampler in 1851. She may have stitched it at the Benton School in Benton as the teacher there was Nancy Douglas(s), who may have been the mother or sister of Hugh Dickson Douglass, Cynthia’s first husband. Or she could have attended the Ocoee Female Academy in Benton which was chartered January 1, 1850.

The sampler is signed:

C.E.L. June.13.1851

in cream silk across the bottom row.