Schindler met her first husband, Buckey O'Neill, while working as a school teacher. At the time he was editor of the "Hoof and Horn" newspaper. The couple were married on April 27, 1886. Their first child, "Buckey" Jr., was born January 1, 1887 and died two weeks later. They adopted a second son, Maurice, on October 15 the same year. O'Neill was widowed on July 1, 1898 when Buckey died during the Battle of San Juan Hill. Life insurance of US$200,000 along with property in Phoenix and monies from her husband's onyx mine left her financially secure for many years to follow. She remarried on May 16, 1901, wedding her late husband's brother, Eugene Brady O'Neill. Eugene was a Phoenix-based lawyer who served two terms in the Council (upper house) of the Arizona Territorial Legislature before he committed suicide in 1918.