Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1893 — Who Mother Goose Was. [ARTICLE]

Who Mother Goose Was.

New York Times. Long years ago there was a veritable Mother Goose residing in Boston. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Foster, and in 1692 she married Isaac Goose, a widower with several children, and became the mother of six. A writer in Poet Lore says she delighted to care for the many grandchildren, and sang to the babies numerous songs and ditties that she knew* She had a son-in-law named Flint who was a printer, and, although he wearied of the baby nonsense, he appreciated its value sufficiently to write -it out and make a book of it for the benefit of other babies than his own. This was in 1719. Mother Goose died in 1757. No one, says the writer referred to, claims that Mrs. Goose originated these songs; she recalled them as she had learned them in her own babyhood.