Rollin Colman Smith was born on May 18, 1809, in Storeham, Vermont, to Joseph and Esther Smith. He married Mary Amanda Birchard, and they had at least two children: Mary, born around 1836; and Watson, born around 1838. The family moved to Detroit, Michigan, in the 1840s. Smith worked as a city clerk, and by 1850, he owned $3,000 of real estate. A decade later, he owned $1,000 of personal property. He moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in the 1860s, and he died there of apoplexy on December 29, 1873.