Esther "Ettie" R. Harlow (1846-1926) was the only child of Lucius Harlow (1815-1889) and Esther R. Emery (1821-1846) of Holyoke, Mass. Born in Vermont, Ettie's mother died soon after her birth, and her father Lucius married Achsah Christy (1816-1892) in 1847. Lucius was a millwright, inventor and manufacturer of paper-making machinery in Holyoke. Ettie graduated from Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1865. In 1869, Ettie married Charles H. Richards (1845-1910), a partner in the mercantile firm of Richards and Thayer of Holyoke. Together they had two children, Jennie H. and Ettie.
Ettie R. Harlow kept a diary, 1860-1861, when she was fourteen. It contains almost daily entries concerning the weather, her schoolwork, evening French lessons, singing school, Tract Society and Band of Hope meetings, and attendance at church and children's meetings. Ettie also referred to fires in town, visits with friends, housework, piano-playing, attendance at lectures, parties, and occasional trips to Springfield, Vt., to visit relatives. When the Civil War began in April 1861, Ettie wrote of her hopes and fears for the country and for her relatives who might be drafted to fight.