[1] A number of her works were published under the pseudonym "Agnes Burney"[2] , including several developed in collaboration with her spouse, Theodore F. Seward, an internationally known composer and music educator in his day.

She produced tunes for her own lyrics as well as those of other poets; one of the most widely published was her setting of Mary A. Lathbury's Easter Carol (circa 1883).

The 1867 collection The Temple Choir,[5] one of Theodore F. Seward's most successful hymnbooks, contained both words and music credited to her pseudonym.

She frequently accompanied him on business trips, including the second European tour of the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1875 for which he was voice trainer and musical director.

[7] She was a charter member of the International Sunshine Society founded by Cynthia W. Alden and served it many years as first vice president.

[11] A preliminary Sunshine Home for blind babies was established in a three-room New York City flat and other donated space.

It acquired property in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, New York for a larger facility to function as a combined home, nursery, hospital, and kindergarten.

Seward subsequently became president of the Arthur Home for Blind Babies in Summit, New Jersey when it was established as a second combined facility in 1909.