Women in Kentucky - Business

Julia Dinsmore: When James Dinsmore died in 1872, his farm in Burlington was left to his daughter, Julia. She ran Dinsmore Homestead until her death in 1926 at the age of 93. A published poet, she kept a detailed journal of her life on the farm where they raised sheep, grapes, and willows for basket-making. They also buried Dinsmore relatives in the family cemetery, which sits atop a hill not far from the house.

Work on the farm was rough and she was often discouraged in those early years allalone. Her journal revealed her various moods:
January 4, 1875
(14 below zero @ 8 a.m.) Tom tried to haul wood but broke an iron on the sled. River is frozen over.
February 24
Found two new lambs and one old ewe down to die apparently…tried to count the lambs – made out 85 in all…
February 27
Found one dead lamb in the pen and one we had n the kitchen. Charlie and Tom both worked, put rings in the hogs and pigs noses. Hauled a load of barrels to the wine house…
May 23
…I put fire in 2 stumps…Killed copperhead on my way home to dinner…
December 28
One of 7 little pigs dead. Went to church in evening.

Julia Dinsmore maintained the farm as a home not only for herself, but as a haven for rest, for childbirth, and for sickness and dying for the extended Dinsmore family. Throughout her life she recorded her daily life and kept up a lively correspondence. In her leisure at age fifty, she began to write poetry, and her poems were published in 1910. She is buried in the family graveyard.

The 1842 Homestead is now open to the public, much the way that it was when Julia died.

The Dinsmore papers are located at the Tucson Branch of the Arizona Historical Society. These diary excerpts were obtained through microfilm copies located at the Dinsmore Homestead.

Although Julia Dinsmore never married, legend has it that she was once engaged to a Confederate soldier who was killed during the Civil War. Several of her poems hint about the existence of this mysterious fiancée, particularly “Louisiana Buttons.” After the Dinsmore Homestead was taken over by the Foundation, all items had to be inventoried. At that time, these buttons, made by the company Hyde & Goodrich of New Orleans, Louisiana, were found.

- Hannah H. Baird, Co-founder, Dinsmore Foundation

Enid Yandell was a friend of the Dinsmore family. View her bas relief of Julia Dinsmore.
Visit the Dinsmore Homestead Web site for more information.
Read portions of diaries kept by two Kentucky women during the Civil War.

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Women in Sports:

Minnie Adkins
Elizabeth Barret, Anne Lewis, Mimi Pickering, & Justine Richardson
Jane Burch Cochran
Joan Dance
Enid Yandell

Women in Business:

Nelda Barton-Collings
Julia Dinsmore
Laura Freeman
Mattie Mack
Lena Madesin Phillips
Caroline Burnam Taylor

Women in Education:

Helen Lew Lang
Katherine Pettit
Jane Stephenson
Cora Wilson Stewart

Women in Health/Medicine:

Mary Britton
Linda Neville
Ora Framer Porter
Louise Southgate, M.D.

Women in Journalism:

Linda Boileau
Alice Allison Dunnigan

Women in Law:

Pearl Carter Pace
Lt. Colonel Linda Smith

Women in Literature:

Effie Waller Smith

Women in Military:

Lt. Anna Mac Clarke
Capt. Helen Horlacher Evans
Julia Ann Marcum

Women in Music:

Sarah Ogan Gunning
Helen Humes
Lily May Ledford
Reel World String Band
Jean Ritchie
Mary Wheeler

Women as Pioneers:

Esther Whitley

Women in Public Service:

Governor Martha Layne Collins
Emma Guy Cromwell
Rep. Mary Elliott Flanery
Sen. Georgia Davis Powers
Lt. Gov. Thelma Stovall

Women in Reform:

Madeline McDowell Breckinridge
Laura Clay
Eula Hall
Josephine Henry
Belinda Mason
Lois Morris
Eliza Caroline Calvert Obenchain
Charlotte Richardson
Joan Robinett
Mary Sue Whayne
Corinne Whitehead
Evelyn Williams

Women in Religion:

Eldress Nancy Moore
Rabbi Gaylia Rooks

Women in Science:

Sarah Frances Price
Ellen Churchill Semple

Women in Sports:

Terri Cecil-Ramsey
Geri Grigsby
Audrey Whitlock Peterson
Mary T. Meagher Plant