Julia Thompson von Stosch Schayer

Julia Thompson von Stosch Schayer was an American writer whose fiction appeared most often from the 1870s through the 1890s. Reliable sources identify her as born in Deering, Maine, and describe her as especially known for short stories published in leading magazines of the day, including The Atlantic Monthly, Scribner's Monthly, and The Century Magazine.

Her life connected her to a notable literary and artistic family. She was married first to Ferdinand von Stosch and later to George F. Schayer. Her daughter Leonora Speyer became a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and violinist, and her son Richard Schayer later worked as a screenwriter. Sources also note that while living in Washington, D.C., she became friends with Frances Hodgson Burnett.

One of her best-known collections is Tiger Lily and Other Stories (1883). Later notices about her career mention that her story The Major's Appointment was adapted for the stage, and A Story of Two Lives was adapted for television decades later. A surviving favorite, Angela's Christmas, has helped keep her name familiar to modern readers of classic holiday fiction.