Throughout her life, she was involved in civic work such as women's suffrage, and helped run her husband's law office.

She was instrumental in helping the Episcopal Church establish individual congregations in East Texas.

Frances became fluent in eighteen of the twenty-five languages she eventually learned to speak., becoming a literary translator at age fourteen.

[5] During the Civil War, Frances sold the Henderson's land holdings in Texas and moved to Europe with her daughters.

With the war's end, Frances moved to East Orange, New Jersey, with her daughter Julia and son-in-law Edward White Adams.