A Lewistown, Pennsylvania Woman Works as Railroad Telegrapher Nearly Forty-five Years

A Lewistown Pennsylvania woman, Elizabeth Cogley, was one of the first female telegraphers for the Pennsylvania Railroad. When the Civil War broke out, she handled two important communications, one involving President Lincoln, the second, from Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin.

According to a story in the New York Historical Society Museum and Library, “On April 16, 1861, Elizabeth was the operator who received President Lincoln’s first telegraph asking men to join the Union Army. The next day she received a message from the governor of Pennsylvania asking the commander of the Lewistown militia to rally his men and report to Harrisburg. She delivered the message and then sent the commander’s response that they would report at once. This exchange is remembered as the first military telegraph exchange of the Civil War.”

Elizabeth Cogley’s story is found in the Historical Society article from Women & The American Story. Miss Cogley’s short biography is as a teaching tool to show students how difficult her work was, and to indicate how women contributed to new technologies in the United States.

In his article “A Look Into the Future: Women Railroad Telegraphers and Station Agents in Pennsylvania, 1855-1960, Thomas Jepsen writes” Elizabeth Cogley’s success and prominence in her field were due in part to her good education, and partly to serendipitous family connections. She was born in 1833 and came from a well-established middle-class family that had roots in Lewistown dating to the 1750s.”

Her parents, Joseph and Sarah Cogley, owned a book and stationary store. Joseph also distributed newspapers. From an early age, Elizabeth took an interest in current events and the world around her. When breaking news of the Mexican American War was read aloud from the town post office steps, Elizabeth was always among the crowd, listening and learning.

Elizabeth’s parents made sure she had a strong education. She first attended a “dame school,” a small school run by a woman out of her home. When Elizabeth outgrew the dame school, she attended the local Lewistown Academy. [1]

Elizabeth learned telegraphy from her cousin, Charles C. Spottswood, who had been orphaned at an early age and was then taken in and raised by the Cogley family. He became the telegrapher for the Atlantic & Ohio in Lewistown and got Elizabeth a position as a telegraph messenger in 1852 while she learned the Morse code. When he left to accept a position in another town in 1855, she took over his duties as operator. She demonstrated great aptitude for the work, and soon began teaching other members of her family, including her brothers, Elias and J. Friedley, and her sister Mary. Elizabeth Cogley never married and made a lifetime career of telegraphy. As a railroad telegrapher for the Pennsylvania Railroad, Elizabeth's skill and business ability quickly brought her to the attention of railroad officials. [2]

In 1862, the Pennsylvania Railroad company transferred Elizabeth to Harrisburg, a transportation hub that needed her expertise because of the increased traffic caused by the war. In Harrisburg, Elizabeth was part of a nationwide network of women telegraph operators who ensured the safe and efficient of supplies and troops needed for the war effort. 

Elizabeth stayed in Harrisburg when the war ended. When she retired in 1900, she held the title of Chief Message Officer, and she was awarded a pension to support her for the rest of her life. Elizabeth returned to Lewistown after her retirement, where she dedicated herself to supporting church and community groups. She passed away in 1922 at the age of 88. [3]