ABSTRACT
Margaret Mackall Smith was born on September 21 , 1788, at St. Leonard's in Calvert County, Maryland. She was the daughter of Ann Mackall (pronounced Maykle) Smith and Walter Smith, a prosperous planter and Revolutionary War officer whose greatgrandfather, Richard Smith, was named attorney general of Maryland during the reign of Oliver Cromwell. Although little is known of Margaret’s earliest years, she evidently received more than the rudimentary education typical of a plantation daughter of that time.
