Catherine Barr Wallis [Harris], Teacher

Berlin, Marshall Co.

Marshall County Historical Museum, Lewisburg

Lamyra Jane Liggett (1835-1878) was the only daughter of Hampton Wade Liggett and Jane Green. She grew up on a large farm with five brothers. In 1850, Lamyra was attending an unidentified school under the instruction of Catherine Barr Wallis. Miss Wallis was the sister of Isabella Wallis Slate, another embroidery teacher who taught in Williamson County. Lamyra married her first husband, James J. Hardison, in 1851 in nearby Maury County. It does not appear that Lamyra had any surviving children from that marriage. In 1865 she married for the second time to an old family friend, Jackson L. Gray. By 1870 the couple had three children. Lamyra died in 1878 and is buried next to her parents in the Andrews-Liggett Cemetery in Lewisburg, Marshall County.

The very elaborate and unusual frame appears to have been made for this sampler. The text, from Ecclesiastes 12:1; Matthew 5:3-11; Proverbs 22:1; and Isaiah 40:8, is unusually lengthy for a TN sampler. The sampler is very carefully worked and contains no grammatical errors, showing great diligence on the part of the maker and her teacher.