On May 20, 1865, she married Graham G. Grinnell, a deacon in the Presbyterian Church in Adams, New York, and united with that church, frankly asserting her inability to accept its doctrines as she understood them, engaging to acquaint herself with them, and to come into harmony with them, if possible. In 1871, just before the great fire, the family left Adams, New York, and removed to Chicago, Illinois. There were five children born to the couple, of which two reached adulthood, a son, William, and a daughter.