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Region: Middle Tennessee
c.1854 Norah R. Mathis
Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, Clarksville

814"V x 11"H © TSS 229
fibers: wool
ground: 26 ct. linen
Biography:
Norah R. Mathis (1844—1891) may have been the daughter of James A. Mathis and Martha Elizabeth Edmondson who lived near Palmyra, Montgomery County. Martha worked a sampler in 1828 (TSS 228). In the 1850 census Norah, estimated to be age 8, was living with James A. Mathis and his family, however, she does not appear to be with them in the 1860 census. Sometimes families sent a daughter to another county to board with relatives so that she could attend a better school. Norah may have gone to the Clarksville Female Academy, which was chartered in 1846. Norah married Gus Moody in 1866 in Montgomery County. The couple settled on a tobacco farm seven miles south of Clarksville where they had four daughters. Unfortunately her husband had a violent temper, so Norah left him about 1883. She died in 1891 and is buried in Salem Methodist Church Cemetery, Montgomery County.
Description:
Norah's sampler has been cut down; only the bottom half survives. It was originally bound in red buttonhole stitch.
Related Samplers
1828 Martha Elizabeth Edmondson