Bar examination
In November 1878, the couple moved to Ashland, Ohio and Killgore Wertman temporarily retired from law practice in order to raise the couple's children, Shields K., Helen M., and Clay (who died in infancy). When her children were older, she decided to sit for the Ohio Bar examination. She passed in September 1893. Once admitted to the Ohio Bar, Killgore Wertman returned to her husband's law practice, specializing in real estate law and abstracting. Killgore Wertman and her husband later followed their children to Washington state, settling in Seattle, where she continued to reside with her son until her death on May 21, 1935.