[1] In January 1848, Margaret Newton married Peter Van Cott, and in 1852 had two girls, one of whom died in infancy.

She was involved with her husband's pharmaceutical business, and when he died she supported the family as a sale's person for a time.

[1] She had a significant conversion experience in which she recounted later "light [from heaven] streaming in upon her soul" while passing the John Street Methodist Church in New York City.

[2] The same year she also led Bible Study classes in Five Points, New York at a mission founded by Phoebe Worrall Palmer.

[1] In 1872 Bishop Gilbert Haven said "She is without doubt today the most popular, most laborious, and most successful preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church.