 On 26 February 1872, she married Peter Hermann Bredt, a Prussian-born accountant who worked as the secretary for the Bairnsdale Shire Council.The couple had nine children, three of whom died in infancy; three sons and three daughters survived to adulthood.After being widowed in 1888, McNamara moved to Melbourne and began working as a travelling saleswoman, selling jewellery and sewing machines.