Washington Duke (1820-1905), an industrialist and philanthropist dedicated to Christian values and education,grew wealthy after the Civil War by manufacturing tobacco products. With the assistance of his two sons, Seman's grandfather Benjamin Newton and James "Buck" Buchanan, and his daughter, Mary Elizabeth, the senior Duke rose from his humble beginnings on his family's Orange County, North Carolina farm, to create an early manufacturing business that thrived in the early 20^th century. In addition to tobacco, the Duke family became involved in waterpower, an investment that provided the money for the Duke Endowment which Mary Semans would later chair.

Semans also talks openly about her grandmother Sarah Newton, whose close ties to Durham influenced her husband, Benjamin, when he convinced the president of Trinity College into moving the college to the Bull City. Several years later, Benjamin became involved in the "Bassett affair," a series of severely critical articles in the News & Observer about a professor at Trinity College, John Bassett, who stated during a lecture that African Americans would one day be equal with whites. Although many citizens in the city wanted him fired, Benjamin and the board of trustees maintained Dr. Bassett's right to freedom of speech.

Semans also reflects on the then president of Trinity College, William Preston Few, who was so admired by the Duke family that the powerful clan created a large endowment for the college to create what is known now as Duke University. Dr. Few was still president when Mary Semans enrolled at Duke.

Mary's parents married young. Her mother, an aspiring young opera singer, was ten years older than her father, an ambassador and a captain in World War I. Mary was close to both of her parents and explained how the separation of her parents and ultimate divorce both affected her mother's health and her own life.

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