Tennessee State Museum, Nashville

Jemima Clardy Mclelin (McClellan) (1819-abt. 1895) was the first child born to Susan Williams and Samuel Mclelin (McClellan). Jemima married Samuel A. Russell, who may have been a cousin as the Mclelin, Williams, and Russell families intermarried. In 1850 the family was living north of the Cumberland River and east of the Caney Fork River in Smith County. Jemima raised ten children.

Jemima’s unusual sampler featured a sawtooth border at the top and bottom and two different floral repeats along the sides. She used drawn work for the centers of the flowers on the left, a technique found in only one other Tennessee sampler. She included the name of her mother, Susan Mclelin, perhaps indicating that she was her mother’s student.