The Julia Dodge papers hold 12 letters from the young Julia Dodge, written between 1855 and 1861, to her friend, and possibly cousin, Mary Webster. She wrote about her life on the western frontier and described the cold winters, her log cabin home, the beautiful woods and rivers close by, her studies, and her home life. She also mentioned numerous encounters with Indians including seeing them at local stores, catching them stealing food from the Dodge farm, and offering them food and clothes to trade. Other topics covered in her letters include Civil War news from her brother Grenville; the Council Bluffs Concert Hall fire of 1860; and her time with toddler Lettie Dodge, Grenville’s daughter. One letter, dated March 27, 1861, described Julia’s brief attendance at a "Young Ladies Institute" in Alexandria, Virginia, which she found pleasant, but she left the school before graduation.
Julia Mary Dodge was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, in 1843, to Sylvanus Dodge, postmaster and merchant of South Danvers, and Julia Theresa Phillips. In 1855, Sylvanus followed his sons Grenville Mellen Dodge and Nathan Phillips Dodge, out to Elkhorn, 25 miles outside of what is now Omaha, Nebraska, and close to a Pawnee Indian settlement. Julia and her mother joined their family on the Elkhorn farm at the end of 1855. After problems with local Indians and family illness in 1857, the family moved to the more densely settled Council Bluffs (Iowa), next to Omaha. Julia married James B. Beard on September 29, 1868, in Pottawattamie, Iowa; they had two sons and lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Fort Worth, Texas.
Julia's brother Nathan established himself in the local banking business. Her brother Grenville was a distinguished general during the Civil War and later served as a United States congressman from Iowa. He also played an important role in the development of the eastern half of the transcontinental railroad.
The recipient of the letters is likely Julie's cousin Mary Amanda Webster, daughter of Walter Russell Webster and Rebecca Phillips, born in 1839 in Salisbury, New Hampshire.