[2] She made her first appearance on the stage in Chicago with Lotta Crabtree in 1870, and in the same year, joined Augustin Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City.

In 1872, she became a member of A.M. Palmer's Union Square Theatre, playing largely comedy roles.

She created the part of Louise in The Two Orphans and then became known as one of the best emotional actresses of her time.

She was performing the play The Two Orphans on December 5, 1876, at the Brooklyn Theatre in New York when a fire broke out and killed 278 people.

[3] Claxton died due to a cerebral hemorrhage in her apartment in New York City; she was buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery.