In December 1872, James Dinsmore died. Because Julia was his only adult heir, she inherited the farm, which was about 400 acres. Her journal begins in January 1873 and was her attempt to keep track of the tenants and business transactions she was forced to deal with.
Julia's journal is a simple listing of the things she did, the people she saw, and the events that happened around her. Though her writing was concise, taken as a whole, the journal paints a vivid portrait of life for a well-to-do landowner in the latter nineteenth century.
11 - Sister Belle's birthday but so rainy annd cold we could not put flowers on her grave.
12 - Went to see Mrs. Boone Rogers's sick baby.
13 - Easter Sunday - Sally and I put flowers on all four graves. Went to church with Miss Robinson in the morning.
14 - Went to Bellevue to go to the burying but got there after they had started. Uncle Jilson planted a good deal in the garden. This evening we went on cherry hill.
15 - Got a letter from Louly saying she was coming to make a visit next month.
Julia Stockton Dinsmore was born on March 6, 1833, to James and Martha Macomb Dinsmore, in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Her father was part-owner of a sugar cane and cotton plantation along Bayou Black. Julia was a child of nine when her family moved up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to their new home in the Belleview Bottoms section of Boone County, Kentucky.
Julia was the middle of three daughters. The youngest sister, Susan, died in a drowning accident. The oldest, Isabella, married a first cousin, and moved to Minnesota. She died shortly after the birth of their second child. Isabella's husband sent the children to the farm in Kentucky to be raised by their Aunt Julia. Several years later, Julia inherited the farm upon her father's death.
