She was born in Calvert County, Maryland. Her mother’s name was Ann Mackall and her father’s name was Walter Smith. Her father was a major in the American Revolutionary War. When she was visiting her sister in Kentucky in 1809, she met Zachary Taylor. Taylor was a lieutenant at that time. They married in June 1810. For sometime, she stayed in a farm she had got as a marriage gift from her father. There she gave birth to her first baby. But, then she started to live with her husband. Taylor’s garrison moved from one location to other on the western front, and she also moved with him. 