 Their first field of work was in Ningbo maintaining the missionary work with missionary John Jones and Edward Clemens Lord at the Bridge Street premises, while awaiting reinforcements from England.Martha died suddenly at Ningbo in 1863, and Meadows later proposed marriage by letter to her friend, Elizabeth Rose.Upon Miss Rose's arrival with the Lammermuir Party at Shanghai on 30 September 1866, the couple were married in October 1866 in Ningbo.