After her father's murder in 1914, she and Grant closed the legal partnership and spent full time on historical research and writing.

[3][b][c] When her father, an active Republican politician, did not run for reelection in 1889, he moved to Muskogee (then the main city in Indian Territory) and opened a private law practice.

[d] While working on legal research in her father's law firm, she met lawyer and part-time historian Grant Foreman, who had joined the office in 1903.

Grant Foreman, a lawyer who had previously worked for the Dawes Commission, joined the Muskogee law firm of Carolyn's father in 1903.

Initially, she helped her husband by performing research in archives, taking notes during site visits and by translating primary documents that were written in French and Spanish.

[e] According to Wilson, Carolyn's abilities with learning and using foreign languages greatly contributed to her second book, Indians Abroad: 1493–1938 (1943).

[3] Since Grant and Carolyn had no children, their home was inherited by the daughter of John Robert Thomas Jr., Mrs. William Biglow Neergaard.