19th century Williamson County, Tennessee schoolgirl needlework sampler signed Nannie R. Maury. Wool on linen with wide red and yellow floral and green leaf border, upper and lowercase alphabet with numbers 1-4 in red and yellow above a Queen's stitch band worked in pink and pale blue, over the signature and date: "Nannie R. Maury's Sampler, June 2?, 1823 (or 1828). Cross-stitched below is a two story brick house and a basket of flowers, along with initials PAB, MFM, and RLM(?). 16" H x 19-1/2" W sight, 18" H x 21-1/2" W in a later stained cherry frame. This sampler is tentatively attributed to Nancy Richard Maury of Williamson County, Tennessee (b. 1839- d.1911). The date on the sampler, well before her birth, may refer to her parent's marraige date (see documentation accompanying this lot compiled by the Tennessee Sampler Survey). Nancy ("Nannie") Maury's father, Richard Launcelot Maury Jr., died 5 months before she was born; she was likely given her middle name in memory of him. Her uncle Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), for whom her brother was named, gained national fame as "the father of modern oceanography and Naval Meteorology" and she was distantly related to Abram Maury, founder of Franklin, Tennesssee. Nannie married Joseph Bennett, a farmer, in 1872; their only daughter died in infancy. Nannie Maury Bennett died in 1911 and is buried in Rest Haven Cemetery in Franklin, Tennesssee; the sampler then descended through the family her sister, Margaret Maury McDaniel, to the present consignor. As noted in the Tennessee Sampler Survey's report, this sampler has all the characteristics of a Middle Tennessee sampler including wide floral and bud border, a flower basket/urn, and brick house with four chimneys, common to Williamson County. The sampler is consistent with others made in the late 1840s and early 1850s. Condition: Retains good, vivid colors; some pest losses to red threads on border and lower initials, basket, the Y in Maury and possibly the last digit of the day and year dates; area of light staining upper right corner and upper left side and above the word "June", minor expected allover toning to ground. Sampler appears stitched, not glued, to support board but has not been fully removed from frame. Condition: Retains good, vivid colors; some pest losses to red threads on border and lower initials, basket, the Y in Maury and possibly the last digit of the day and year dates; area of light staining upper right corner and upper left side and above the word "June", minor expected allover toning to ground. Sampler appears stitched, not glued, to support board but has not been fully removed from frame.