She contributed to leading British and U.S. magazines and published several books, continuing her writings almost to the time of her death.

When her mother died, the young girl went with an aunt to Scotland, and for five years, she lived in Edinburgh, where she was educated thoroughly and liberally.

Her time was filled with literary, society and charitable work, and she was especially interested in religious and educational matters.

She published a volume of poems, Day Lilies (New York, 1889), which passed into its second edition and won her substantial reputation as a poet.

She was the author of The Mayor of Kanameta (New York, 1891), a story on sociological lines, also Donald Moncrieff, a companion book to the former (Buffalo, 1892).