Elizabeth Williams Cosgrove, Muskogee Writer and Poet

Elizabeth Williams was born in Sedalia, Missouri, on March 22nd, 1878. After completing the local schooling, her parents enrolled her in the Monticello Seminary for Young Ladies where she completed her formal education. Her father served as a judge and she had an uncle who became president of the University of Missouri.

Elizabeth married James Cosgrove in 1905 and bore two daughters, Caroline and Jessie. She stepped off the train in Muskogee during a howling blizzard in January, 1910. Discontent broke apart the marriage in 1923. Tragedy struck again when her oldest daughter, Caroline, died unexpectedly from a fall in 1932. Thereafter, Elizabeth lived in her adopted community raising young Jessie.

Writing came easy to Elizabeth. It was more than an exhibition of good grammar and syntax, it was the message. Her ideas and forms of expression jumped from the page to the reader's mind.

Elizabeth Williams Cosgrove wrote for both major Muskogee newspapers, the Tulsa World, and the Dallas Morning News. Her articles were published in Virginia and Missouri newspapers as well.

Elizabeth may have picked the traveling bug from her friends, Grant and Caroline Foreman. (Grant Foreman was a prominent Muskogee historian. He died in 1953.) Like the Foremans, Ms. Cosgrove traveled around the world. That explains why one of her writing credits includes the "Times of India" which was published in Bombay.

During the late 1930's Elizabeth worked with Grant Foreman editing interviews for the Works Progress Administration. The exact dimension of her contributions may never be fully known.

She published her first book of poetry, "Scrub Oak and Mistletoe," in 1934. One poem from this appears below. It was penned on the heels of her daughter's sudden death and after a decade of grieving over the end of her marriage. In this brief ode, Elizabeth succinctly describes how incomprehensive the loss of love can be.

In 1943, her musings on life and family appeared in "An Old House Speaks." This was followed ten years later by her "narrative poem" about Oklahoma's history. It is entitled "From This Red Earth."

Elizabeth Williams also wrote a biographical sketch of Mrs. C. N. Haskell, wife of the Governor of Oklahoma. She promoted local authors through her regular involvement in the Muskogee Writers Guild. She passed away in 1975 and is buried in Missouri.

When we three together walked
You and Love and I,
I used to think I could not live
If you should die!

I never thought--how could I then?
So close were you and I--
That we would ever walk apart
And Love could die!