Family Register

Concord, Knox Co.

Mabry-Hazen House Museum, Knoxville

Alse H. Scott Mabry (1800-1843) probably stitched her sampler over a number of years, finishing it about 1834. Alse was the youngest child of Col. Francis James Scott and Jane Adams of Blount County. She married Joseph Alexander Mabry, Sr. about 1784. The couple lived on a 1,500 acre plantation in Concord, Knox County. Alse gave birth to six children, the last of whom died at the age of 5 ½ months. She may have started her family register during one of her pregnancies or during the illness of her last child Rowena. Rowena’s death is the only one recorded on the sampler, which may indicate that Alse stopped working on the sampler at that time.

Although most samplers were worked by girls and young women, family registers were most often worked by adults. The red letters are probably a later addition. The sampler may have been left unfinished, since the border lacks flowers. A large queen stitch in the lower left may have been the beginning of a second border.