Spring Hill Female Academy

Spring Hill, Williamson/Fayette Co.

Lucy Ann Reid stitched her sampler at the Spring Hill Female Academy on the border of Maury and Williamson counties. It does not appear, however, that her immediate family ever lived in either county. The Reids lived in Macon, Fayette County. Lucy was the daughter of William Buchanon Reid and Ede Harris Brown. Lucy married Edmond Madison Waller in 1851. The couple had four children. Lucy does not appear in any records after the Civil War. All of her daughters reached adulthood and married. It is not known what happened to her or her son.

As there were no female academies in Fayette Co. at the time that Lucy made her sampler, it is probable that the family sent her to stay with relatives. She likely made her sampler under the tutelage of Mrs. Mary Ellis, wife of Jesse Ellis, who was known to be teaching at Spring Hill in the 1840s.