Educated at the University of Chicago, she studied under poet William Vaughn Moody and novelist Robert Herrick,[1] and later went on to write her own poems and novels.

Under the pseudonym of "Charlotte Wilson," she was co-author of Women and Prisons (1912), published in London by the Fabian Society.

In fact, when her poem titled "The Pine Tree Hymn" was written, it also became adopted as the school song for SFA.

[3] In addition to her teaching career, she also published three more books: The Birds of Tanglewood describing the birds within Nacogdoches, Dreamers on Horseback (her last book of collected poems), Family Style (1937) a novel recounting the occurrence of the East Texan oil boom, and Star of the Wilderness (1942), which became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.

[3] In addition to teaching at Stephen F. Austin University (1924–1934), she also gave lectures at various colleges, women's clubs, and literary groups in Texas.