James Dinwiddie, Elizabeth’s father, was of Scots-Irish descent. James grew up to become a surveyor. In the 1780s he received a contract to survey a large amount of land in Tennessee which was then part of North Carolina. He married Jean (Jane) Robinson in 1790. By 1799, after Tennessee had become a state, James Dinwiddie owned 290 acres in Greene County. In the early 1800s he received several land grants for additional acreage on the Big Limestone Creek in Greene County. Elizabeth Read Dinwiddie (1797-1847), known as Betsey, was the third of eight children. Betsy was probably ten years old or younger when she made her sampler. Betsey never married. She died in 1847. Although her name appears in the family Bible, it does not appear in census records or any other public records. The family Bible and her sampler are the only records of her life. Her burial site is unknown.

Although undated, this is one of the oldest TN samplers TSS has documented. The distinctive alphabet is seen on samplers from farther north, particularly samplers from immigrant German families in Pennsylvania.