Sarah Ann E. Smith (maiden name: Rimer) was born on June 27, 1834, in North Carolina to Thomas and Sally Rimer. Her father was a farmer who owned $300 of real estate and $270 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Rowan County, North Carolina, and she married Samuel J. Smith on November 6, 1856. Their son Robert was born on August 14, 1858. Her husband died on September 14, 1863.
She remained in Rowan County after her husband’s death. By 1900, she was living in her son’s household in China Grove, North Carolina. She remained there for the rest of her life, and she died there of bronchopneumonia on March 20, 1922.