Julia Stockton Dinsmore
(1833-1926)
James’ and Martha’s second child, Julia, was born in 1833, in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Julia was 9 years old when her family moved up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers from Terrebonne Parish to their new home in the Belleview Bottoms section of Boone County.
Julia was well read in English verse and French Fiction. She began publishing poetry when she was in her fifties. Many of her poems appeared in the New Orleans Times Democrat. A volume of her poetry, entitled Verses and Sonnets, was published by Doubleday in 1910. (You can view additional poetry by Julia in the Library.)
Her sister, Isabella, married a first cousin and died shortly after the birth of their second child. Their father, Charles Flandrau, sent the children to the farm in Kentucky to be raised by their Aunt Julia. Julia’s younger sister, Susan Bell, drowned in a boating accident. Thus, by the time her father died in 1872, Julia Dinsmore had lost all of her immediate family and was left with two nieces to raise and a mediocre farm to manage. The work was rough and hired help tried to cheat her. She was discouraged often in those early years alone. She kept a detailed journal and daybook for 54 years, carried on voluminous correspondence, and maintained the Homestead in Boone County as a haven for her family to return to as a place of peace and security in times of sickness, grief, and financial reverse. She kept Dinsmore as a fixed point in a changing world for family to come to and regenerate.
Julia’s tenacity and determination was pivotal is creating what is Dinsmore Farm today, a uniquely preserved historical site that captures the life of a family over five generations during our nation’s formative years. There are over 90,000 letters and documents that bring to life a home the is almost as it was in 1842 when the family first moved to Boone County.
Julia never married but cared for many in her lifetime as though they were her own. She died on April 19, 1926 while visiting Isabella Greenway in Santa Barbara, California. She is buried in the Dinsmore Graveyard.
