Sophia Alice Callahan went East for part of her education. After having studied for nearly a year at the Wesleyan Female Institute in Staunton, Virginia, she was qualified in grammar, arithmetic, physics, geography and history. She subsequently taught at several different boarding schools in the Creek Nation of Indian Territory. She worked at Wealaka Mission School in 1892-3, where her father was the superintendent. Late in 1893 she moved to the Methodist-sponsored Harrell International Institute in Muskogee. She also published articles in the school journal, Our Brother in Red.