At the age of 24 she married 27 year old Francesco Bosco, a family friend and widower whose wife and infant daughter had died shortly after childbirth, leaving him with a three-year-old son, Anthony.

Francesco died of pneumonia in May 1817, leaving the 29-year-old Margherita a single mother with three sons: Antonio, Giuseppe and Giovanni (John).

[1] A strong woman with clear ideas, Occhiena raised her sons with a regimen of sober living, strict but reasonable.

[1] While Antonio served as the bread winner for the family, he also made life difficult for his more studious young brother, John.

Though she herself was illiterate, Occhiena's wisdom and goodness became the model for the "preventive system" that was the basis of Don Bosco's educational approach.