Daughter of Will­iam Young Rip­ley, Julia lost her mo­ther as a child. In 1830 her fa­ther took her to Ver­mont, where she was ed­u­cat­ed. She be­gan writ­ing po­etry at an early age, but did not publ­ish an­y­thing un­til two years af­ter her 1847 mar­riage to Sen­e­ca M. Dorr, a prom­i­nent New York law­yer and bank­er.

After her mar­riage, Ju­lia con­trib­ut­ed to mag­a­zines, main­ly po­e­try, with an oc­ca­sion­al short sto­ry. She counte­d among her friends writ­ers such as Ralph Wal­do Em­ers­on, Ol­iv­er Wen­dell Holmes, James Russ­ell Low­ell, Ju­lia Ward Howe, and Rich­ard Wat­son Gild­er. She carried on a correspondence with Holmes for over 20 years.

Dorr’s works in­clude:

• Farmingdale, 1854
• A Ca­thed­ral Pil­grim­age
• Bermuda. An Idyl of the Sum­mer Is­lands
• Bride and Bride­groom. A Ser­ies of Let­ters to a Young Mar­ried Couple
• Lanmere
• Sybil Hunt­ing­ton
• Expiation
• The Fal­low Field

• New York Times, January 18, 1913

1. Heir of All the Ag­es, I
2. How Can I Cease to Pray for Thee?
3. I Would Be Qui­et, Lord
4. It Is Not Mine, to Run with Ea­ger Feet
5. Jubilate!
6. Thou Who Dost Build the Blind Bird’s Nest
7. Yea, Lord, Yet some Must Serve