The year after graduating, she went to Tennessee as a teacher, but her career was cut short by the approach of the American Civil War. On 3 July 1862, she married Oliver A. Willard (born Churchville, New York, 1835) who had in 1861 from the Garrett Biblical Institute. She went with her husband to his first pastorate, in Edgerton, Wisconsin. In the following year, they removed to Denver, Colorado, where her husband founded a Methodist church, and became presiding elder at the age of 27 years. Two years later, the family, consisting of the parents, one son and one daughter, returned to Evanston, where they made their home for several years, and where another son and another daughter were added to their number.
