Red and Green Group

Flat Creek, Williamson Co.

Sarah Elizabeth Lillard (1829-1914) was born in North Carolina, the eldest child of John D. Lillard and Rachel Jarrel. The family came to Tennessee shortly after she was born and settled in the Flat Creek vicinity of Williamson Co. near Marshall County. John Lillard was a farmer. Sarah made her sampler in 1843 when she was 15. One year later she married Samuel Green Morton. Samuel Morton was a school master and a farmer in Fayette County. Sarah gave birth to thirteen children, and still managed to outlive her husband by 42 years. She died in 1914 and is buried in Pleasant Grove Cemetery, southwest of Moscow, Fayette County.

Sarah’s text is from Ecclesiastes 12:1:

Remember thy Creator
in the days of thy youth.

She tells us her age (she was 14 years, 7 months, and 10 days old when she finished her sampler), the date of completion, and her county and state.

Sarah Elizabeth Lillard’s
sampler wrought in the
fifteenth year of her
age. August the 30th..
1843

Williamson Cty
Tennessee.

The modern mat and frame may cover a border.