Olive Smith was born around 1833 in Vermont to Joseph R. Smith and Harriet Kidder. Her father was a farmer who owned $12,000 of real estate and $1,650 of personal property by 1860. Her mother probably died sometime in the 1830s. By 1850, the family was living in Highgate, Vermont, and she was attending school there. She died in Vermont on March 28, 1866.