Sweetwater, Monroe Co.

Ellen Russell (1809-1887) was the fourth of nine children born to David Russell and Mary White. By 1830 the Russell family had moved to the Sweetwater area of Monroe County, where Ellen stitched her sampler. By the 1850 census Ellen and her widowed mother had moved to Humphreys Co. to be near Ellen’s sister. Ellen never married. The 1880 census said that Ellen assisted in “ch”. The “ch” may have referred to church, as she was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Waverly. Ellen died on Dec. 16, 1887 and is buried in the Wyly Cemetery, Waverly, Humphreys County.

Ellen’s genealogy sampler names her parents and all of her siblings, but does not include herself. She was 20 or 21 when she made her sampler, and had most certainly completed her education. The vertical format and large, free embroidery roses are also found on samplers from Blount and Monroe counties, as well as one sampler from Tipton Co., West Tennessee.