 She was the daughter of Thomas Lincoln and Lillian Quest Waln, from a Pennsylvanian Quaker family.In 1918, she was Publicity Secretary of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief (later the Near East Foundation) and contributed a foreword to the book "Ravished Armenia".From childhood, she was interested in Chinese culture after learning of a family trading-connection with the Lin family of Hopei Province from the early 19th-century.