She married former suitor and an editor at the paper John Marsh, on July 4, 1925; Marsh had been best man at her first wedding with "Red" Upshaw and legend has it that both men courted Mitchell in 1921 and 1922, but Upshaw proposed first.
She shocked Atlanta society by keeping her own name, "Margaret Mitchell" for professional purposes. (In private life, she was known as Peggy Marsh.)
The couple set up housekeeping in a
small apartment affectionately called "the Dump." They entertained the newspaper crowd and other friends on a regular basis. Marsh, originally from Maysville, Kentucky, worked for the Georgia Railway and Power Company (later Georgia Power Company) as director of the publicity department.
Mitchell was struck by a speeding automobile as she crossed Peachtree Street at 13th Street with her husband, John Marsh, on her way to see the British film A Canterbury Tale at The Peachtree Art Theatre in August 1949. She died at Grady Hospital five days later without regaining consciousness, on August 16th 1949.