Mary Ellen Richmond was born August 4, 1861 in Belleville, Illinois to Henry Richmond, a carriage blacksmith, and Lavinia (nee Harris) Richmond. On the death of her parents while she was very young, Richmond was raised by her maternal grandmother and two aunts in Baltimore, Maryland. Her grandmother, an active women’s suffragist, was known as a spiritualist and a radical. Richmond grew up surrounded by discussions of suffrage, racial problems, spiritualism, and a variety of liberal religious, social, and political beliefs. This upbringing promoted critical thinking and social activism in her. Richmond’s grandmother and aunts were also not fond of the traditional education system so Mary Richmond was home schooled until the age of eleven when she entered a public school. Social interaction or relationships were not her strong point and she spent considerable time reading literature. She graduated from high school at the age of sixteen and went with one of her aunts to New York City. She took a job at a publishing house doing a variety of clerical and mechanical tasks, a very difficult life with twelve-hour workdays. Her aunt soon became ill and returned to Baltimore, leaving Mary on her own at the age of seventeen.