Marcy's life, up to the time of her young womanhood, was spent in her home in East Hampton in the atmosphere of a thrifty New Englandfamily.

She was of artistic temperament and did creditable work in this line as an amateur beginning at a very early age to copy simple designs.

In 1862, Professor and Mrs. Marcy came to Evanston, Illinois, he having accepted a professorship in Northwestern University, with which institution he was identified until his death in 1899.

She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution,[3] being entitled to this order by the service of her paternal grandfather, Sparrow Smith.

She is also by lineal descent from the signers of the original Compact of the Pilgrim Fathers, a member of the Society of the Women of the Mayflower of the State of Illinois.

In prose, they were chiefly in the direction of her philanthropic work, some of them being of such importance as to warrange their distribution by tens of thousands in pamphlet form.