At first, she was known in San Francisco as a soubrette playing Fanchon, the Cricket; then later, as the mother of twelve children, who wrote books to fill up her time.

Mr. James, after reaching the age of 65, began the study of medicine, and for several years thereafter, was a successful physician with a considerable practice.

[8] Within two years after her marriage, she went upon the stage, making her first appearance at the Old National Theatre in Cincinnati as "Bianca, The Italian Wife."

[8] A decided hit in Cincinnati, in the ten years succeeding, she followed her stage career in various parts of the country.

At Madison, Wisconsin, on July 4, 1866, Kingsbury had been invited to read the Declaration of Independence, and by some blunder, John E. Murdoch was present for the same purpose.

Kingsubry resigned the task to Murdoch, and at the same time, met Judge Stidger, an old Californian, who, upon learning of her brother's disappearance, at once remembered having seen him at a recent date in Sacramento, alive and well.

[7] John McCullough was the leading man in her company and later, he played Hamlet to her Ophelia, Romeo to her Juliet, and Othello to her Desdemona.

[10] Later in life, she was given a benefit at which she played her old role of "Fanchon," and one of her sons took the part of the stern father Barbeauld.

[11] It failed to find a larger readership because it dealt unmercifully with masculine shortcomings, and was deemed a dangerous book to be read by wives.

[9] In 1904, she issued a book of verses under the caption Cricket's Chirpings (Owl Press, San Francisco).

She also wrote several plays, [12] during her theatrical career, notably The Little Rag-Picker and Maud, the Chimney Sweep's Daughter.

[4] After she retired to domestic life, raising a family, she modeled small shapes in clay, which were put into plaster.

[13] Alice Kingsbury Cooley died at her home in Alameda, California, November 3, 1910,[7] the result of ptomaine poisoning.