Mary Amanda Smith (maiden name: Birchard) was born around 1814 in Vermont. She married Rollin Colman Smith, 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. Her husband worked as a city clerk, and by 1850, they owned $3,000 of real estate. A decade later, they owned $1,000 of personal property. They moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in the 1860s, and her husband died there of apoplexy on December 29, 1873. By 1880, she was living with her son Watson in Omaha. Her son was murdered in 1881, but she remained in his daughter-in-law’s household until 1900. She died sometime after June 1900.