Julia Caroline Dorr

Julia Caroline (Ripley) Dorr (February 13, 1825–1913) was an American author who published both prose and poetry.

She was born to William Young Ripley and Zulma DeLacy Thomas in Charleston, South Carolina on February 13, 1825. Her mother, in frail health, died in 1830, just after they had arrived in her father's hometown of Rutland, Vermont. William Ripley moved several times when Julia was young, including to New York City, but settled permanently in Rutland by 1837. At this time, the twelve-year-old Julia began to write poetry. Her education is described as "uneven," although she gained some proficiency in Latin.

Her half-brothers were Edward H. Ripley and Major General William Y. W. Ripley, both of whom became prominent officers in the American Civil War.

In Rutland, she married Seneca M. Dorr on February 22, 1847. A year later, without her knowledge, but seemingly with positive results, her husband submitted one of her poems to the Union Magazine, resulting in her first publication. That same year she won a US$100 prize from Sartain's Magazine for Isabel Leslie, her first published short story.The novels Farmingdale (1854) and Lanmere (1856) followed quickly behind.

The Dorrs had four children.

Although she wrote a number of novels and works on travel, she was best known for her poetry. Her work was conservative; she did not write anything that she felt was improper for children to hear, and was described as consisting of "respectable but not highly distinguished or passionate phrases to the conventional wisdom of her time and place." However, one of her poems was included in Emerson's 1894 anthology Parnassus. She also carried on correspondences with friends E.C. Stedman and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Dorr's husband, Seneca, died in 1884. She continued to publish novels and books of poetry. She died in 1913.

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