The sampler has nine rows of alphabets and numbers separated by simple crossbands. The signature line is at the bottom and reads:
Ann B Ellis april 27 1814

Ann B. “Nancy” Ellis was born on October 14, 1799 to Captain William Ellis (1761-1802) and Elizabeth Shipp (1764-1833). Ann’s father, a Revolutionary War veteran, guided a large group of settlers known as the "Traveling Church" from Spotsylvania County, Virginia through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky in 1781. The group, led by Baptist minister Lewis Craig, was seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity and settled initially near present day Lancaster, Kentucky. William married fellow Virginian Elizabeth Shipp in Fayette County on June 18, 1786. The couple had six other children before William's death in 1802, including Sarah (1787–1813), Johnson J. (1788–1814), Mildred (1791–1810), William Jr. (1793–1796), Polly (1795–1831), and Lewis Craig (1797–1824). Elizabeth Shipp Ellis remarried in December 1803 to Jesse Bryant (1764–1843) and this union produced one daughter (Elizabeth, 1806-1823).

Ann B. Ellis grew up in Fayette County. She married John William Thomson (1794-1822) on September 24, 1816 and their children included Cape Pike Montgomery (1819–1902), Ann (1820-?), Dr. William Ellis (1821-1907), and John Milton (1822-1865). John William Thomson's death in 1822 was accidental, caused by a shot to his breast from a sentry's musket. The wound was mortal, caused by powder and wadding only but sans bullet. Ann subsequently married Horace John Coleman (1790-1846) on January 13, 1825 and their children included Louisa Jane (1825-1843), Marquis (1828-1895), and (Colonel) Cicero (1833-1915). The Colemans built a home on their farm on Winchester Pike outside Lexington. Cicero served with John Hunt Morgan in the Confederate army, explaining the connection between Ann Ellis and the sampler donor, the Blue Grass Trust in Lexington.
(For a fascinating discussion of Cicero's "jewelry ring" owned by the Kentucky Historical Society, please see https://kyhistory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/0067ABAC-732E-4AC1-AC48-224026533827.)
Ann B. Ellis Thomson Coleman died at the home of her son Colonel Cicero Coleman, on August 13, 1883 in Fayette County, Kentucky and is buried in the Lexington Cemetary, Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, Section: P Lot: 114 Grave: W ½.