[4][5] Her husband was a first cousin, since his own mother, Catherine Atherton had married David MacGregor Means (1841-1931), a lawyer and former assistant editor of The Nation.

His wife Jane went through intense periods of mourning for losing all her children, and was not able to assist in hostess duties.

[10] Kent-Means died on either August 3 or 4, 1857, aged 54, five months after Pierce's presidency ended and James Buchanan's term had begun.

[14][15] Her great-great-great grandfather James Atherton arrived from England in the 1630s, and went on to serve under Captain John Whiting's Company, eventually becoming one of the founders of Lancaster.

[16] Her great-great-great-grandfather on his maternal line was Samuel Wardwell, a carpenter, who was charged with witchcraft in 1692, and was hung at Witch Hill, in Andover, Massachusetts.