She began to write, in both prose and verse, in early life, and her work attracted attention.

She published poems in the San Francisco Star and many other prominent Pacific-coast journals.

She made a profound study of economic and political questions, and with pen and voice, she aided in extending the discussion of the relations of progress and poverty, and of individuals and society.

Subsequent to the publication of her earliest productions in the Cincinnati Christian Standard, she wrote and published much.

She wrote a number of poems, essays and sketches over the pen-name "Margaret Frances."