She was the founder of the Prisoners' Aid Society of Rhode Island, and due to her efforts, police matrons were secured for the station houses of large cities.

[4][2] It was her desire to become a foreign Christian missionary, but, owing to ill-health and the strong opposition of friends, she reluctantly did not pursue this career.

[4] In 1897, she set off on a tour of the South Pacific as the World WCTU's Superintendent for Prison, Police, Charitable and Reformatory Work.

She gave ten addresses in eight days in Honolulu, then traveled to Auckland where she was hosted by Annie Schnackenberg, president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand.

She married Joseph K. Barney, of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1854, and thereafter resided in that city, with the exception of several years spent on the Pacific Coast.