ABSTRACT
Born in St. Louis on January 26, 1826, Julia Dent was raised on the family estate of White Haven in south St. Louis County. Her father, Frederick Dent, called “colonel” by courtesy, was born in Maryland in 1786; her mother, Ellen Bray Wrenshall Dent, was born in England and brought to Pittsburgh by her parents. Julia's grandfather John Wrenshall was both a Methodist preacher and an importer. Julia's mother came from a cultured and pious home. Her parents sent her to Philadelphia to school; from there, her husband carried her to frontier Missouri. She gave birth to four sons, then to four daughters. Except for one daughter, all survived infancy.
