Her father and his brother owned plantations in Mississippi before the American Civil War.

[2][3] Doremus wrote plays,[4] including Larks (1886),[5] A Boy Hero (1887), The Charbonniere, A Chinese Puzzle, Compressed Gunpowder, Dorothy, Fernande, Fleurette, Pranks, Real Life or Andy,[6] A Fair Bohemian (1888),[7] The Circus Rider (1888, starring Rosina Vokes),[8][9] Mrs. Pendleton's Four-in-Hand (1893, based on a story by Gertrude Atherton), The Fortunes of the King (1904),[10][11] By Right of the Sword (1905), and The Duchess of Devonshire (1906, written for Canadian actress Roselle Knott).

[12] She also co-wrote The Sleeping Beauty (1878) with Mrs. Burton Harrison,[7] A Wild Idea (1888) with Elisabeth Marbury,[13][14] A Full Hand (1894) with M. F. Stone, The Wheel of Time with T. R. Edwards, The Day Dream with E. R. Steiner,[6] Mock Trial for Breach of Promise, with H. E. Manchester,[15] Miss Devil-May-Care (1916),[16] One of the Boys (1920)[17] and A Castle in Spain (1935)[18] with Leonidas Westervelt, and The Chain (1920) with Julia S.

[19] She was a charter member of the Daughters of the American Revolution,[3] and served on the Executive Committee of the Professional Women's League of New York.

[20][21] Elizabeth Johnson Ward married chemist Charles Avery Doremus in 1880, in Washington, D.C.[22] They had a daughter, Katherine (1889–1956),[23] and two sons who died in infancy.