The middle one of three girls,[1] she was a sister to Maud Ballington Booth, the Salvation Army leader and co-founder of the Volunteers of America.

They honeymooned in the Holy Land, where, in Shechem, they reportedly discovered Jacob's Well, the place where, according to the Gospel of St John, Jesus met the woman of Samaria.

Besides the organ she continued her musical interest by taking singing lessons with the French opera singer Blanche Marchesi.

Her short story Under the Mulberry Tree appeared in the special issue called "The Spring Romance Number" of the Ladies Home Journal of 11 May 1911.

The Life of Florence Barclay: a study in personality was published anonymously that year by G. P. Putnam's Sons "by one of Her Daughters."