Sampler
Mary Eliza Jones married Joseph Somerville of Warren County, North Carolina, in 1839. In ca. 1846 the family relocated to Tennessee. The couple had ten children.
A pictorial needlework by Mary Eliza’s mother, Mary Ann Speed, is in the Old Salem Collection. Stitched while Mary Ann attended Salem Girls’ Boarding School between 1810 and 1813, her embroidery is entitled “Mount Vernon, Seat of the Illustrious G. W.” (Acc. 5717.1)
The sampler by Mary Eliza Jones and the pictorial needlework by Mary Ann Speed descended to the donor through the daughter of Mary Eliza Jones, Tempe Jones Somerville; who gave them to her daughter, Rosa Gibson Livingston (b. 1877); who gave them to her son, Charles Robert Sherman, Jr. (1912-2006). Charles Robert Sherman, Jr. married Rebecca Laughlin (b. 1915). The couple had no children. The donor received the two pieces from Rebecca Laughlin Sherman who was her mother’s sister.