Nashville Female Academy?

Nashville, Davidson Co.

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville

Martha Ann Lytle was one of three daughters born to William Lytle and Janette Jane Hobson. William Lytle was a successful lawyer in Nashville. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1823 – 1827 and then in the State Senate from 1827 – 1833. The family lived on the corner of Cherry Street (present day 4th Avenue North) and Church Street not far from the Nashville Female Academy. Martha’s older sister Sarah Jane attended the Academy from 1821 – 1823. It is likely that Martha attended the school in the 1830s. A number of her cousins were also students. One of her cousins, Jane Eleanor Foster, also made a sampler in 1831 (TSS 140). Martha married Alexander Cook Crawford, a merchant, in 1837. In 1838 they moved to Galveston, TX. The couple had five children. Andrew Crawford died in 1884 in Houston and Martha in 1889.

Martha’s sampler bears some resemblance to the sampler worked by Sarah E. C. Francisco in 1838 (TSS 103). No connection has been established between the two girls.