Harriet Jean Spurlock Schmidt was the daughter of George Edwards Spurlock and Katheryn Mary Antonich. Her Edwards/Duffett genealogy goes back to the 1600’s in Dorset and Somerset, England. She attended and received degrees from several colleges and universities including the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana (B.F.A.-Art Ed.) and Union College, Schenectady, N.Y. (M.F.A. – American Studies.) She taught art in several schools, chiefly at Niskayuna High School, Niskayuna, N.Y. Her chief interests were art, genealogy and travel. She and her husband David T. Schmidt had a wonderful life for forty-three years.