Katharyn E. "Katie" Boland was all Irish. Both her father and mother were born in Ireland and migrated to the United States. Katie's father, Patrick Boland (1820-1903), was considered to be an early settler of Ingham County and for many years ran the Boland & Early Saloon on Michigan Avenue in Lansing. Bridget Kannally Boland (1845-1917) gave birth to Katie on 16 June 1867, Meridian Township, Ingham County, Michigan. Young Katie was among the brood of Boland children who attended and were enrolled the Okemos Union School in 1888. Katie was an 8th grade graduate.

Katie became a teacher, teaching in several township schools in Ingham County. She married 9 October 1892, Lansing, Chandler S. Ellsworth, a Canadian by birth. Chandler was born 30 April 1866 near St. Thomas, Canada and was working, by 1900, as a teamster in Ingham County, later to be employed in construction as a cement worker. Chandler died 4 June 1912 of a spinal disease having been ill, according to his obituary, the last 2 years of his life. There were no children of this union.

On 13 June 1919 in Lansing, Katie wed widower Nathan Jay Smith whose wife had died in 1913. Nathan was a farmer but later in life operated an oil station. Nathan was born 1 January 1876 in Gratiot County. Unfortunately, Nathan had an accident with a gun, shooting himself in the lower abdomen. He was taken to St. Lawrence Hosptial in Lansing but succumbed to his injury, 1 December 1956. Family buried him in Rose Cemetery, Bath, Clinton County, Michigan. Katie died 29 March 1955 and was interred with Chandler Ellsworth, Glendale Cemetery, Okemos.

Lansing State Journal, Wednesday 5 June 1912, obituary for Chandler A. Ellsworth, 1st husband of Katharyn Boland

Lansing State Journal, 1 December 1956, obituary for Nathan J. Smith, 2nd husband of Katharyn Boland

Lansing State Journal, Tuesday 29 March 1955, Katharyn Boland Chandler Smith obituary