Josephine first met Robert Peary in 1885 while she was attending dancing school. They got engaged in 1886, at which time she resigned from the Smithsonian Institution. On August 11, 1888, Peary married Josephine Diebitsch, a business school valedictorian who thought that women should be more than just mothers. Diebitsch had started working at the Smithsonian Institution when she was 19 or 20 years old, replacing her father after he became ill and filling his position as a linguist. The newlyweds honeymooned in Atlantic City, New Jersey, then moved to Philadelphia, where Peary was assigned. Peary's mother accompanied them on their honeymoon, and she moved into their Philadelphia apartment, which caused friction between the two women. Josephine told Peary that his mother should return to live in Maine. She often accompanied him on his northern travels, where she traveled farther north over the ice fields than any white woman had before. She accompanied him on six of his Arctic expeditions and was considered a First Lady of the Arctic. Josephine and Robert had two children: Marie Ahnighito Peary born in 1893, who became known as "Snow Baby", was born less than thirteen degrees from the North Pole, and a son, Robert E. Peary Jr. His daughter wrote several books, including The Red Caboose (1932) a children's book about the Arctic adventures published by William Morrow and Company. As an explorer, Peary was frequently gone for years at a time. In their first 23 years of marriage, he spent only three with his wife and family. Peary and his aide, Henson, both had relationships with Inuit women outside of marriage and fathered children with them. Peary appears to have started a relationship with Aleqasina (Alakahsingwah) when she was about 14 years old. They had at least two children, including a son called Kaala, Karree, or Kali. In 1914, the Pearys bought the house at 1831 Wyoming Avenue NW in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Robert Peary began renovating the house in 1920, shortly before his death, after which the renovation was taken over by Josephine. Josephine sold the house in 1927, receiving a $12,000 promissory note.