On 30 January 1887, their first child, Norman John, was born. A few months afterward, on 1 May 1897, the young family sailed for the Dutch East Indies. Among the places they lived in the Dutch East Indies was Tumpung in East Java. This was where their second child, Jeanne Louise (known as 'Non'), was born.

The couple had a difficult marriage. She did not fit well into the cramped lifestyle of an officer's wife in the Dutch East Indies, and he considered her independent behaviour to be a form of adultery. Quarrels were a daily occurrence. On 27 June 1899, their little boy, Norman, died. He and Non had been poisoned, but the doctor managed to save only Non. MacLeod blamed his wife: due to her flirting, she had not been paying enough attention to the children. As 1900 came to a close, MacLeod resigned from the military after serving 28 years in the tropics. The family managed to remain together in the Dutch East Indies for another two years. In March 1902, they returned to the Netherlands.


By this time, the couple's marriage was so miserable that Margreet requested an official separation in August 1902. The court gave her custody of Non, and MacLeod was ordered to make monthly alimony payments. Margreet never received any alimony, however, and when Non was staying for a while with her father, he decided he did not want to give her up. After this time, Margreet saw her daughter only once more, at the train station in Arnhem in 1905.