Her family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1860, and in 1867, Ada married Henry B. Kepley, who had his own law practice in Effingham, Illinois.

In response, her husband Henry Kepley drafted a bill banning sex discrimination in professional occupations; it became state law in 1872.

In conjunction with her organization, she also published a monthly temperance newspaper entitled The Friend of Home which openly attacked the dram shops (saloons) and their patrons.

In 1897, an angered saloon-keeper's son broke into Kepley's home and attempted to shoot her with a gun, but missed and shot one of her dogs in the foot.

Upon the death of her husband Henry in 1906, the bereaved Ada moved to the Kepley's farm between Watson and Mason, Illinois (now known as Wildcat Hollow State Forest).

Kepley died in St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in 1925, and she is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Effingham, next to her husband, Henry.