Greeneville, Greene Co.

Elizabeth Jane Rhea ( abt. 1820- aft. 1880) was the second child of John Rhea, Sr. and Mary (Polly) E. Dennis. A Revolutionary War veteran, her father helped write the Tennessee State Constitution. He was a prosperous landowner and farmer near Greenville, Greene County. John Rhea was a founder of Greenville College and the Rhea Academy which was named after him. A female department was added to the school in 1840. Eliza married Uriah Mathews in 1842. They lived in Sherrills Cove, Greene Co., where Uriah was a farmer, merchant, and proprietor of the Stagecoach Inn. The couple had one child, Mary Leonora, who was born in 1843.

Eliza’s top floral border is especially popular on English and American samplers, dating to the early 1600s. The card, inserted between the glass and the sampler, reads:

[S]Ampler MADE By.
[E]LiZA JANE RHEA
1827
GREENEVILLE, TENNESSEE