Isabella Johnson Green was born in Philadelphia and was a devout Quaker. Her father was a cloth merchant. Every year he traveled to Ireland and London and Paris to get the latest fabrics and linens. When she was old enough, he took her with him.

When Isabella's father died, his business partner took all the money from the business and disappeared. She was left with the house and its contents, which she sold. She then moved to Ireland to live with a cousin.

In Lisburn, Ireland she met and married Thomas Pattison, a civil engineer. Five children were born to them there. By 1871 Isabella and Thomas were living in London and their son Thomas Stannus Pattison was living with them.

Isabella and Thomas retired in London and then moved to Paris. They had an apartment in a fashionable area of Paris. The photograph above, taken in Paris in 1902, is the only picture of her that we know of.