engineer of Buffalo. Her mother, Mrs. Margaret McKenna Ditto, was a woman of both literary and artistic talents, who finally chose art and became a successful painter in oils. The family on both sides is a talented one. Julia early showed that she had inherited literary talent of a high order. She was educated in the grammar and normal schools of Buffalo. After completing a thorough educational course, she became the wife of Robert D. Young, 30th December, 1876. Mr. Young is now cashier of the Erie County Savings Bank. Two sons were born to them. The older, born in 1877, died in 1882. The younger is living.
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JULIA EVELYN DITTO YOUNG.
Mrs. Young, when a mere child, began to write stories and verses. As soon as she had learned to write, she utilized her accomplishment to commit to paper a gloomy poem, "The Earl's Bride." In 1871 she published a story in the Buffalo "Evening Post," which opened in this alarming style: "Shriek upon shriek rent the air, mingled with yells." She next published, in the Buffalo "Express," an essay on Fort Erie, which aroused protest on account of its inaccuracies. She then became a contributor to "Peterson's Magazine" and to the Frank Leslie periodicals. Recently she has written many short stories for a newspaper syndicate. These stories show many remarkable and artistic qualities in the author. She has written much poetry also, and her poems, like her stories, show her to be the possessor of vivid imagination and a master of diction. She has translated standard poems from the French and German into English. In November, 1889, she published a novel. "Adrift: A Story of Niagara," a finished work, the plot of which is laid in the neighborhood of Niagara Falls. The book was successful. She is now engaged on more important works. Her home is on Bouck Avenue, Buffalo, N. Y., and is a center of simple and cordial hospitality and of refinement and culture. In her literary work she has the encouragement of her husband, who is a man of intelligence. Her married life is an ideally happy one.
YOUNG, Miss Martha, author and poet, was born in Hale county, Ala. She is the daughter of Dr. E. Young, of Greensborough, Ala. Her
grandfather, Col. E. Young, was a Virginian by birth, an honor graduate of Princeton, and in his day a leader of law and politics in Alabama. His wife was Miss Martha Lucia Margaret Strudwick, of North Carolina, a family of note in that State since the days of the Revolution. Her maternal ancestor was Dr. Henry Tutwiler, owner and principal of Greene Springs High School. He was the first full graduate of the University of Virginia, and a Virginian by birth. His wife was Miss Julia Ashe, of North Carolina, a member of a prominent family that has represented the State in many high offices. One of her ancestors was governor of North Carolina in 1795, and members of that family have in every generation since that year held many positions of honor and trust in North Carolina. Miss Young was graduated from the college in Livingston, Ala. The most valued part of her education was gained from the reading of innumerable volumes in the old family library. Her reading was always supervised by her mother, who was a woman of wonderfully clear mind and many accomplishments.
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MARTHA YOUNG.
Miss Young's introduction to the reading public was a story published in a Christmas number of the New Orleans "Times-Democrat," entitled "A Nurse's Tale." Many other stories and ballads appeared during the following year in the "Southern Bivouac," Detroit "Free Press." "Home and Farm" and other journals, all signed "Eli Sheppard." These writings attracted attention because of their versification and faithful reproduction of the old-time negro character and language. Only a few friends knew the name of the author. Her identity was unveiled in the "Age-Herald" of Birmingham, which
