She inherited $1.2 million from her uncle Lewis Ginter, a tobacco magnate, and she continued his philanthropic efforts in the Richmond area.

When her husband died in 1855, Jane and her seven young children moved to Richmond to live under the protective wing of Ginter, who at the time was a wealthy dry goods wholesaler.

[1] Trained as a nurse, as was common with women in the deaconess movement of that era, Arents helped establish the Richmond chapter of the Instructional Visiting Nurse Association, which also drew upon the lessons of the Settlement House movement, exemplified by Jane Addams in Chicago, among other socially active women.

[2] One of her nicknames became the "Angel of Oregon Hill", referring to a poor neighborhood in her adopted city which received many of her philanthropic efforts.

[5] Arents also expanded and renovated the Lakeside Wheel Club, which her uncle had built, transforming it into a convalescent home for sick children.

[10] A Virginia historical marker commemorating her philanthropic career stands a few blocks from the cemetery entrance, next to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church.

The obituary in the Richmond News Leader said enumeration of the "libraries, recreational centers, schools, churches, hospitals, and similar institutions" would be impossible to list.