Richea Myers Marx was the daughter of Myer Myers, famed colonial silversmith, and his second wife, Elkaleh Mears Myers. Raised in New York, Richea was one of thirteen children, including half siblings from her father’s first marriage. Her family fled to Connecticut as the British moved to take New York, and they spent the war in Norwalk and subsequently Stratford.

The war was not easy for Myer Myers and he struggled to re-establish himself after its conclusion. When, in 1795, he suddenly died, a couple of Richea’s brothers, Samuel and Moses Mears, headed down to Richmond, where they soon established themselves in business. Richea and her mother followed, and there Richea met her husband Joseph Marx.

Joseph too had recently suffered the loss of his father and moved with his family to Richmond, in search of economic opportunity, although he had come a much greater distance—from Bremen. Marx experienced great success as a merchant and investor in real estate. They had nine children whom they raised in an opulent mansion, Hanover House. One son, Samuel, became director of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company and president of the Bank of Virginia. Another son, Frederick, after studying in Philadelphia and Europe, returned to become one of the most widely respected physicians in Virginia. Their daughter Harriet married Benjamin Etting, son of Reuben and Frances Gratz Etting. The marriage of another daughter, Adeline, proved to be something of a scandal in Richmond society, and she and her husband fled to New Jersey.