[1] She was also the president of The Evening Wisconsin Company, which, in addition to publishing one of the "Golden Dozen" of American newspapers, also conducted an extensive job printing department.

As a descendant of John Barker (1764–1835), of New York who served in the Revolutionary War, Harriet was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

[2][6] In New York City, on June 25, 1869, she married William Edward Cramer (1817–1905),[5] who was blind, deaf, and 30 years older than Harriet.

They were in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, and were locked up in the besieged city for several months, until liberated, with other American residents, through the offices of the United States Minister Washburn and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

She, with her husband, gave 40 acres (16 ha) of ground in Milwaukee upon which the house and school of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic home for "wayward girls" in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin were situated.