Her uncle, Luke P. Poland, was a United States Senator and Member of Congress for a number of years, and for nearly a quarter of a century was Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.

A leading Republican and a noted orator, he eventually served as United States Senator from Nebraska.

A contributor to the press, her articles on Alaska and what she saw there having been copied throughout the U.S. She participated in several newspaper controversies on important public questions, always under a pen name, and her authorship was known only to a very few of her most intimate friends.

[3] She was the author of a number of literary compositions, publications for private circulation related principally to the writer's views on art.

At the one in Denver, Colorado, July 1892, she held prominent positions on committees and contributed to the success of the convention.

[9] A son, Clarence, and two daughters, Grace and Jean, were educated at home by Mrs. Thurston who personally arranged and supervised their studies, until they entered high school.

[6][3] On March 14, 1898, she died of heart failure on board the yacht Anita, lying off Sagua La Grande, Cuba after an illness of only a few hours duration.