Description:Infant in Christening Dress--note portrait of her brother, William Hardy Murfree, painted in same dress. Subject holding a rose and a straw hat with a ribbon. Portrait painted in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, which was originaly known as Murfree's Landing. Behind Melrose, her parents' home, on the Meridian River was a sailboat landing with access to the Atlantic Ocean (thus Murfree's Landing). Portrait has a sailboat in the background.
History:Portrait has come down through the Murfree family.
Notes:Subject born in Murfreesboro, North Carolina in 1783. She died at Grantlands, the plantation home she built in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1843. It is said she brought the first piano to the state of Tennessee. She was married to David Dickinson of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Her son, David Dickinson, was a United States Congressman from the eighth district. Her daughter married John Bell of Tennessee who was speaker of the US House of Representatives and ran against Abraham Lincoln for US President.
