Born in September, 1849 in Ohio to James and Margaret Eccles, Martha's full name was Marguerite. One of six children, the family moved often from Ohio to Pennsylvania, Canada, and Michigan.

Martha grew up to be a school teacher in Tecumseh, Michigan and when she met Seth Bullock there, the two immediately fell for each other. In 1874, the two married in Salt Lake City, Utah .  The young bride returned to Helena, Montana with her husband, who had been elected the sheriff of Lewis and Clark County the year before. In addition to “playing” lawman, Seth was also working as an auctioneer and entrepreneur, entering into a hardware business with Sol Star. 

In 1876, the couple had their first child, a daughter they named Margaret but usually called “Madge.”  That same year, Seth and his partner, Sol, began to see irresistible opportunities in the booming mine camp of Deadwood in Dakota Territory.  Having made the decision to move their business, Bullock, sent Martha and their infant daughter back to stay with her parents in Michigan, knowing that the lawless Deadwood was no place for a family.

Wasting no time, Martha almost immediately became a pillar of the community., working enlighten and civilize the rowdy frontier mining camp.

If the couple didn’t already have their hands full enough with their own three children, in May, 1881 they took in Seth's seven year-old nephew, Douglas Kislingbury.  The boy’s father, Lieutenant Frederick F. Kislingbury had married Seth's sister Agnes in 1867 and the two became the parents to Douglas about 1874.