Adeline Marx was raised, along with her eight siblings, in an extravagant mansion in Richmond, Virginia dubbed the Hanover House. Her father, Jacob Marx, had immigrated from Bremen and had great success in business and finance, and his own father had served as court physician to the Elector of Hanover. Her mother, Richea Myers Marx, was the daughter of famed silversmith Myer Myers and Elkaleh Mears Myers. The Marx family was active in Congregation Beth Shalome.

Adeline married Edward Carrington Mayo, scion of an old Virginia family. It was something of a scandal—opposed by both families—and they had to elope to North Carolina, and eventually settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where they raised their nine children.