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Region: East Tennessee
1834 Malinda Ann McCroskey
Glenlock, Monroe Co.
History San José, CA

© TSS 223
fibers: silk
ground: linen
Biography:
Malinda Ann McCroskey (1821-1907) was the second child of John McCroskey and his first wife, Lucinda Ann Grant. Her father was the first sheriff of Monroe Co. and a successful farmer. Malinda grew up in a log house in the Glenlock/Sweetwater area of Monroe County. In 1837 she married Daniel McCray. Malinda bore ten children; three died in infancy. In 1852, Daniel left for the California Gold Rush. In 1857 he sent for his wife and children. Daniel McCray was very successful at farming. Malinda died in 1907. She is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery (I.O.O.F.) in Hollister, San Benito, CA.
Description:
Malinda may have attended Bolivar Academy, a co-educational school founded in 1825 in nearby Madisonville wjere her father was a trustee. A separate female department was added in the 1830s. It is not known if embroidery was taught at the academy, or if Malinda attended a special needlework school or learned from a relative. Malinda's sampler is similar to that made by her cousin, Mary Wallace Montgomery. Malinda's first sampler (TSS 223) features a large cartouche of free embroidery, work in pink roses with green stems. Malinda's second sampler (TSS 224), worked two years later when she was 15, uses the same large pink cabbage roses in the border.
Related Samplers
c.1837 Margaret L. Blair
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1815 Lucinda Ann Grant
1836 Malinda Ann McCroskey