Mary Smith (maiden name: Barker) was born around 1841 in Claremont, New Hampshire, to Alexander Barker and Elizabeth Mercer. Her father was a farmer who owned $1,500 of real estate by 1850. The family eventually moved to Bradford, Vermont, and she attended school there. She married John Low Smith in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on September 16, 1859, and they had at least three children: David, born around 1860; George, born around 1869; and Charles, born around 1870. Her husband worked as an ink maker in Andover, Massachusetts, and by 1860, they owned $50 of personal property. A decade later, they owned $7,000 of real estate and $2,500 of personal property. She died in Andover on July 30, 1890.