She made several translations from the French, Spanish and Italian languages, notably Charles Forbes René de Montalembert's brochure, "Pius IX," the abstruse philosophical work of Juan Donoso Cortés from the Spanish, and the monograph of Adolphe de Chambrun on "The Executive Power" (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1874).

In 1870 and 1873, she actively opposed the movement for female suffrage, and drew up a petition to Congress, which was extensively signed, asking that the right to vote should not be extended to women.

She was for some time president of the Ladies' Catholic Missionary Society of Washington, and built the chapel of St. Joseph's of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, on South Mountain.

She was the only daughter of Samuel Finley Vinton, who served a quarter of a century with much distinction as a Whig leader in Congress, and Romaine Madeleine Bureau.

She made several translations from the French, Spanish and Italian languages, which brought her recognition, among others, an autograph letter from Pope Pius IX, the thanks from the Queen of Spain and a complimentary notice from President James A. Garfield.

[5][6] In 1846, at an early age, she became the wife of Daniel Convers Goddard, first assistant secretary, U. S. Department of the Interior,[7] who left her a widow with two children: Vinton Augustine and Romaine, who married the Baron de Overbeck of Germany.