She was published in Willis's New York Mirror, opening the door for contributions to other journals including The Columbian and Graham's Magazine.

[3] She met Adoniram Judson in December 1845 on his return to the United States, when he asked her to write the biography of his second wife, Sarah Hall Boardman.

Chubbuck at first disliked the lifestyle, where she became stepmother to her husband's two young sons and complained privately of "this taking care of teething babies" as being outside her usual literary role.

Her friend Nathaniel Parker Willis called her a "woman of genius" in an article printed in the July 25, 1846, issue of the Home Journal.

[8] A reviewer of her book Alderbook for Graham's Magazine praised her writing for "ease, grace, invention, vivacity, a quick eye for character and manners, and a fine flexible style".