[3] Barrows was also one of the first women to attend the University of Vienna to study ophthalmology, the first American woman in medical practice as an ophthalmologist,[4] and the first woman to have a private practice in medicine in Washington, D.C. Born to Scottish immigrants, Anna Gibb and Henry Hayes on April 17, 1845, in Irasburg, Vermont, Katherine Isabel Hayes was the fifth of seven children.

Although she had lost her partner and the original reason for initially traveling to India, Isabel stayed on and completed her missionary work, returning to the United States six months later.

The next summer Samuel came down with an illness and Isabel filled in for him, making her the first woman to officially work for the State Department.

Once she completed those studies, Isabel returned to Washington, D.C., and became its first woman to open a private medical practice in ophthalmology.

[9] After she completing her education, following an agreement they had made previously, Samuel enrolled at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Isabel continued working at all of her positions in Washington, stopping only just before the birth of their first child, Mabel Hay Barrows.

A year later, they returned to the United States and moved to Dorchester, Massachusetts, for Samuel to become a Unitarian pastor at Meeting House Hill.

Although her life was filled with tasks helping her husband, Isabel managed to become an active member in prison reform and other various charities and religious organizations.

These conferences gave Isabel the opportunity not only to use her skills as a stenographer, but also be a key player of reform movements of the day.

[9][10] Isabel Barrows continued her work vying for reform, primarily in prisons, and on other issues, both national and international.