Dorcas Giles Hunt, Teacher

Mr. and Mrs. Hunt’s Female Academy

Gallatin, Sumner Co.

There were two Emily Mays, one a child and one an adult, in Sumner County in 1834. The daughter of William C. May and Christiana McDaniel (1826-1840) is the most likely candidate for the sampler maker. William C. May was a farmer in District 5 of Sumner County. Emily died in 1840 at the age of 13. She is buried in Gallatin Cemetery, Sumner County.

Mr. and Mrs. Hunt’s Female Academy in Gallatin was founded by Rev. Henry W. Hunt, a Methodist circuit rider, and his wife Dorcas Giles Hunt in 1830 or 1831. Plain and ornamental needlework were offered at no additional charge. The school was only in business a few years. It may have been absorbed into the Gallatin Female Academy, which received its charter in 1835 when Rev. Hunt became its principal.