She married William H. Cressingham in 1883 and the family moved to Denver in 1890, where her husband worked as a typesetter.

[2] After she and her husband had moved from New York, she was employed as a writer, and she was the mother of two children when elected to the Colorado General Assembly.

As Secretary of the House Republican Caucus, Cressingham was the first woman to fill a leadership position in an American legislature.

[8] Other bills she introduced during her two years in the House addressed the creation of a state board of arbitration and a system of free schools.

Along with the other two women in the legislature, she successfully supported a bill to create homes for "delinquent" girls.