Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-01-23
Mrs. Julia G. R. Dorr Friend of
Emerson, Holmes, Longfel-
low and Lowell.
REACHED AGE OF 81 YEARS
First Poem Published in 184o--
One of Her Greatest Regrets
Was Inability to Finish
Sonnet.

Rutland, Jan. l9-Mrs. Julia Caroline
Ripley Dorr the well-known Vernon
writer, passed away at her home. TIN
Naples" in this city yesterday mornin,
at the age of 81 years The end has bee
anticipated for weeks. 1t was brough
about by senile debility Mrs Dorr ha.
been i'll three months. Just before Christ.
mas her life was despaired of but she raj.
! lied to such an extent that relatives VIII,
! had been summoned returned home, ex.
| pectlns recovery. Mrs. Dorr sank rapid.
! ly after a collapse Friday and only hel
daughter-in-law. Mrs Harry r. Dorr, was
! with her at the end. The funeral will be
held at 2:30 o'clock Tuesday afternoon a.
/ the congregational Church.
/ Mrs. Dorr was the last member of tn,
famous group OF New England writer,
that included Emerson. Holmes, Lons
fellow and Lowell and that gave Bostoi
the title Of Modern Athens" All thes,
were her intimates. At the Longfellov
banquet In New York she was the onl,
| one present who knew him personally anc
at the 18th anniversary banquet at Sher
rvs for William Dean 1IoweIls sha was
a guest Of honor
After more than eo years IF work her
| first poem being published in 1919. Mrs
| DORIS mind was still active and within a
few days of her DEATH when She was TOO
weak to hold pen one Of her greatest
regrets was that she was unable to finish
sonnet, nearly completed last October
that is considered one Of her finest effort
| in the form of verse
MIRO
in Charleston. 5 c.. the daugntsi of
William Y. Ripley and Zulra DcI.aey
Thomas. Her paternal ancestry in tn,
Ripley family is we'll known. Her moth
er was the daughter Of Jean jacques
Thomas and Susanna DeLacy. both ma
tiNeS OF France, but for some time resi-
dents Of san Domingo, where NJ.
Thomas was merchant. planter anc
shipowaer. During the Instruction o.
the slaves under Toussaint rQuveltilre
he fled to Charleston with his family.
where his daughter was born soon art
erwards. Mr. Ripley was a merchant IN
Charleston and there met and married
Mrs. DORIS mother
MOTHER DIED IN WEYBRIDGE
When Julia Caroline Ripley about
| Is months old her mothers failing health
made a change of climate necessary and
the family returned to her fathers ma
tive town. Wcybridgc bts the mother
died the day after reaching there Until
she was 10 years old Julia Caroline Rip
ley lived part of the time In New Yorl,
| and part in Middlebury. When she was
! i years old her father moved to Rut-
| land. In 1917 she was married to Seneca
NJ. Dorr of Columbia county, y. y later
| a well-known Vermont jurist who died
December g. 1854
Judge and Mrs Dori made their home
in Client, n. Y, until 1857. when they
moved to Rutland and he built The
Naples" celebrated for its rose gardens
| and its beautiful situation on the banks
of Otter creek commanding a view of
Mount Killington 1t was here that she
did most of her literary work
Mrs. Dorr Is survived by a son. Rus
sell R Dorr of st. Paul MINI, and q
daughter. Mrs William II. Steele of
Brooklyn, n, Y, mother OF Frederic
Dorr Steele. a well-known illustrator
She also leaves a brother Gen. Ed
ward Fl, Ripley of New York, whose
summer home is in Mentor and a sis
ter. Mrs. Charles L. Parker of Yer
|
Mrs. Dorr began to write at the age
of -. She had written many poems
and other things but none was pub
lished until after her marriage. when
her husband, in 1919, sent a poem 10
a magazine This was the first pub
lished,
Many of Mrs DORIS earlier poems
Were published in a Complete Edi-
"a tar
appeared, and in 1909 there were
enough more for the collection Be
vond the Sunset"
MRS. DORIS PUBLISHED BOOKS
Her published books include: Farm
ingdale," a novel; "Sybil huntington
a novel; Poems. GS7D; "Expiation.
novel; "Daybreak." an Easter poem,
Bermuda; Afternoon Songs; poemf
I90o); THE Flower of Englandt
Face; "A Cathedral Pilgrimage; "Ir
| Kings Houses"
THE Dead Century" Vermont" and
| Gettysburg" are examples of her heroic
verse, the first being written for the cen
tennial celebration in Rutland Her bal
lads include The Armorer's Errand,"
The Parsons Daughter and "Rcna."
OF her sonnets AT Rest" Day and
| Night Mercedes, THE Place and
RECOGNITION are we'll known Amone
the most familiar Of Mrs DORIS minor
poems, not minor in quality but in vol
ume. are "Outgrown," which Emerson
placed in his "ParuasSus," The Old
! Fashioned Garden" Somewhere" 20
Wind That Blows Out of the West" My
| Lovers ana The Fallow Field"
Mrs. DORIS patriotic poems inspired b,
the civil war, include The Last of the
Six" From Baton Rouge" In IN,
| Wilderness" "Supplcamus' ana "Om
| Flags At the Capitol"
HAD DEGREE FROM MIDDLEBURY
Mrs. Dorr had received the degree OF
doctor of letters from Middlebury College,
She was member of the Congregations
Church in this city, and for SO years was
| president of the Fortnghtly club She
was one of the founders of the Rutland
| Free Library association and was a mem
| Der of the Poetry Society of America,
| Mrs Dorr was represented in The Lyric
, Year" published in November, 1912 a coll
lection Of 100 poems chosen from 10000
, representative Of present-day American