She grew up in New Orleans and had relatives, as yet unidentified, in Brookline. In 1889, she was visited by a daughter of Henry Hobson Richardson, who grew up in the area, and a daughter of Edward Atkinson. She often summered in Brookline in the ensuing decade before her marriage. In 1899, she married Philip Richardson, a son of famed architect Henry Hobson Richardson and Julia Gorham Hayden.

From a photo album of Mary Eleanor ("Mamie") Williams.