Brownsville, Haywood Co.

Born in Orange Co., NC, Mary Jane Russell (1825-?) came to Tennessee in 1826 with her parents, James W. Russell and Nancy Johnston. She was probably attending a subscription school in Brownsville when she made her sampler, and may have purchased her supplies from Hiram Bradford’s store which boasted that it was the only store “where a yard of tape or a paper of pins could be had between Jackson and Memphis.”

Mary Jane’s sampler is one of around 10 we have documented from West Tennessee. Her simple marking sampler, which uses cross and eyelet stitches, was originally worked red, gold, blue, cream, beige, and brown silks.