She was the daughter of Vincent Youmans and Catherine (Scofield) Youmans. Her brother
Edward L. Youmans suffered from an eye ailment, and she read to him and performed chemistry experiments in order to assist him in his studies of chemistry. To further her usefulness as a tutor, in 1843 she attended classes in chemistry given by William Mather in
Fairfield, New York. Later in
New York City, with the same purpose in mind, she studied agricultural chemistry in the laboratory of Thomas Antisell. Her studies and tutoring stimulated her own interest in science, and her fondness for children led her to apply her knowledge to early education. She published
First Book of Botany, designed to Cultivate the Observing Powers of Children (New York, 1870) and
Second Book of Botany (1873). These were intended to promote the systematic study of plants as objects in place of the object lessons in general use. She prepared an enlarged edition of
Henslow's
Botanical Charts (1873), translated from the French
Quatrefages'
Natural History of Man (1875), and contributed to the
Popular Science Monthly and other periodicals. Youmans also published
Descriptive Botany, a Guide to the Classification of Plants, with a Popular Flora (1885), and an abridgment of
Bentley's
Physiological Botany, as a sequel (1886). ==Notes==