Locust Grove Academy

Castilian Springs, Sumner Co.

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville

Elizabeth Mary Paine was the first daughter of Solomon Paine and Mary (Polly) Turner. The family probably came to Tennessee after her father purchased 62 acres in Smith Co. on May 8, 1815. By 1840 the family had moved to Haywood Co. in West Tennessee. As there were no female academies in the area, her parents sent her to the Locust Grove Academy, Castalian Springs, Sumner County.

In 1841 Elizabeth married James Lee Taylor, a merchant in Haywood County. Shortly after 1850 the family moved to Texas. The couple had eight children. In the 1860 census they were in Colorado County. Elizabeth died in Alleyton, Colorado Co. on May 20, 1863. She is buried in the Taylor Cemetery, Columbus, Colorado County.

Elizabeth's sampler features the names and dates of birth of her parents and maternal grandparents. Both of her grandparents died two years before she completed her sampler.

The red flowers in her border are deceptive. Someone has brightened them with paint. They were probably originally pink, making this sampler similar in colors to the others in the Green and Pink Group.