Mary Small was born June 11, 1875 in Palestine, Texas. She married Judge James W. Fitzgerald and raised two sons and a daughter. Sometimes writing under the pseudonym Catherine Rhodes Davis, she published poems, juvenile stories, household and feature articles, and sketches in Texas newspapers, many literary and women's magazines, and several anthologies. She published the long poem "An Etching" (1927), THE WAY OF BEAUTY (1931), which had several editions, and ASPEN GOLD (1938). Her themes included conservation of wild flowers, gardening, and rural conditions especially of women and children. She died on July 10, 1944. Source: Smallwood, James. 1999. The History of Smith County, Texas, Vol. 2: Born in Dixie. Austin: Eakin Press, p. 638.