After finally receiving her degree from Göttingen, Mary was still hoping for a university position. She kept up-to-date with the activities of the American Mathematical Association with the knowledge that her qualifications would be more accessible to those who were hiring.
Mary had attended the two-day "Christmas Vacation" meeting at the University of Chicago and presented the paper she had written while in Germany on hypergeometric functions. It was one of fourteen papers given during the two-day conference. Two papers were read by Dr. Henry Newson from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, whom she had met in Chicago during the symposium where Klein had spoken. They were now becoming good friends and he promised to look for positions on her behalf.
She eventually learned from Dr. Newson about an opening for a mathematics department chair at Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan. About KSAC, he wrote, "'The place is not the best in the country, but [it] is well worth getting if nothing better is at hand.'" He also sent a letter praising her credentials to the president and another to the hiring committee. Dr. Newson wrote:
I know Miss Mary F. Winston personally, and it gives me pleasure to speak a word in her behalf...I can testify to the soundness of her scholarship, to the breadth of her training and culture, to her strong character and personality, and to her refined and genuine womanhood. Though she is a doctor from the best German university, and knows what her place in the world is, she is without affectation, quiet and unassuming, 'bearing all that weight of learning lightly as a flower'.... Nothing I can say in regard to her attainments will add anything to the weight of her testimonials; I can only call attention to their very high character.... It is hard for me to imagine the credentials of another candidate which would be considered superior to Miss Winston's.... The very names of the subjects she has mastered are enough to make the non-mathematical man or woman dizzy. Miss Winston will give the institution a scientific standing that will place it on a level with the very best in the country. She will be a mathematical investigator, writer, and publisher of original work, that will give reputation to the College.... With Miss Winston in your faculty your College could boast of a mathematician that ranks with the best anywhere in the country.... In higher mathematics the State University [in Lawrence] has been without a rival among the Kansas colleges for a great many years. For my part I should gladly welcome a little rivalry, and Miss Winston would put us on our mettle.
Mary's was not the only application received for the position, however. One of the Regents had made a strong recommendation for the hiring of Mr. Benjamin McFarland (who would later serve as principal of the preparatory department). However, Mary's application showed not only her strong background in mathematics and her teaching experience but also her accomplishment of earning a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Göttingen.
In June 1897, with her diploma finally in hand, Mary's credentials and support letters were enough to earn the position at Kansas State Agricultural College. She was elected to the position by the Board of Regents at an annual salary of $1,450, effective September 1, 1897.
While living in Manhattan, Mary boarded at the house of fellow professor Dr. Julius T. Willard. Although it is uncertain if she lived elsewhere in Manhattan, she was included as part of Willard's household at 1211 Moro St. in the 1900 U.S. Census.
Mary was in her element teaching German and mathematics at KSAC and was quite popular by all accounts. The college newspaper, The Industrialist, carried a notice in January 1900 that "the German class taught by Dr. Winston is just now one of the most popular classes in the College."
While Mary taught at KSAC, Dr. Henry Newson became a frequent visitor, making the trip by train from Lawrence. After numerous weekend visits during 1897 and 1898, the two decided they were suitable as life partners.
Henry wrote to Mary's parents in November 1898, to ask for their consent of marriage. "'She promised to marry me in due season provided you give your consent.'" His suggestion was that they should talk it over in person when he would be near their home in Chicago during the holidays, adding that the marriage "might take place next summer." He hoped for a favorable reply.
However, there seemed to be no further communication on the topic and what Mary also wrote to her parents is unknown. In Manhattan, she was in her element. Mary taught German and mathematics, participated in faculty meetings, and enjoyed time with her students. She was not ready to give up her position to become a housewife especially after so few years as an academic professional.
Despite Mary's resistance, the conversation of marriage resumed a year and a half later in the spring of 1900. In a May letter Henry wrote to Mary, he seemed to react to her suggestion that they drop the idea of marriage. In response, Henry wrote he would not give up the idea of marrying her "so long as I retain my senses!" He wrote:
I should not deserve so great a hinge if I were willing to bargain it away as you suggest. The only final and absolute answer you can ever give me, so long as we are both alive and you unmarried, is an unconditional surrender to my siege.... You are a woman good and true and the best in my life I put into the wooing of you... I must win you and I think it better that I should [come] to see you, within a week or two.
By June, Henry was evidently successful and it was decided that the wedding should occur within the month. Henry wrote to Mary's family and Mary wrote to her siblings. Mary's brothers welcomed Henry to the family and her mother wrote in response "'...We would be willing to take a son-in-law any one whom May would accept for a husband... We liked you as a friend when you came to see us in that capacity, and thus we hope and believe that her happiness will be safe in your keeping.'"
After a year and a half of marriage prompts from Dr. Henry Newson, Mary finally accepted, and so, resigned from her position at KSAC. With the news eventually made public at the college, the community was greatly surprised.
The college faculty also was sad to see Mary leave. At the June 16th meeting, she was given heartfelt praise:
We recognize in Miss Mary F. Winston, Professor of Mathematics in the Kansas State Agricultural College, one whose technical acquirements are rarely excelled, and whose logical mind, clear sense of justice, earnestness of character, sympathetic nature and personal charm have combined to make her one of the most efficient and popular teachers of this institution, and one of the most valuable counselors of this Faculty. We desire to express our deep and sincere regret at her departure, and we hope that in her new life she may find the full measure of happiness and prosperity that she deserves.
Once the news was made public, Mary's decision to resign from her position as chair of mathematics was reported on in the June 26, 1900 issue of The Industrialist:
Dr. Mary F. Winston, professor of Mathematics in the College since 1897, has resigned her chair to engage in work of another kind.... Her request was a surprise to all, except her closest friends. The Regents, the Faculty and the students--every one regrets to see her leave the College where she has labored so devotedly, energetically, and effectively for the past three years as head of a main department. Dr. Winston is a woman of refined culture and extraordinary attainments--the first American woman who received the degree of Ph.D. [in mathematics] at the great, old university of Göttingen, Germany.
This public praise was not lost on Mary. Although her short time at KSAC had come to an end, the heartfelt appreciation of the faculty was especially important. Given when she was thirty years old, it was the greatest public commendation she would ever receive from an academic community during her life.
The Mathematician Wife and Mother
