Abbie Ardell Smith was the daughter of Devier James Lamphear Smith and Abigail A. Vaux.  She was known as Della throughout her life.  The family resided in Burnett, Wisconsin until about 1868, then Bedford, Iowa until about 1875, Concordia, Kansas until about 1885, McCook, Nebraska and Wano, Kansas.  Della met Austin Carringer in 1884, and they married on 11 September 1887 in Wano, Kansas.  A month later, Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer took the train to San Diego, California, where they resided until their deaths in the 1940s.

Della kept a scrapbook during her childhood and early adulthood.  The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings (her father's biography, marriage and death announcements, ephemera, local, national and political news, advertisements, etc.). 

She seems to have been an astute business woman - starting in-home businesses, buying and selling property, paying the bills, etc.

Della collected photographs, which were passed down through the years to her son, grandfdaughter and great-grandson.  One of the treasures found in the large boxes of ephemera passed down was a diary for 1929, which captured one or more highlights for each day of the year.