Resource

Life Story: Elizabeth Cogley (1833-1922)

Telecommunications Pioneer

The story of a telegrapher for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Elizabeth Cogley

Elizabeth Cogley, n.d. Marley Creek Archives.

Elizabeth Cogley was born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, in 1833. She grew up immersed in a world of reading and learning. 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.

Elizabeth grew up during an exciting period of U.S. history. The introduction of the steam engine in 1829 kicked off a rapid period of innovation known as the Industrial Revolution. During Elizabeth’s lifetime, the Industrial Revolution transformed all aspects of American life. The rise of factories meant people had new options for employment. Mass manufacturing made goods cheaper than ever before. Cities grew rapidly. The invention of the train made it easier for people to travel all over the country. Every year seemed to bring a new wonder.

These changes were especially exciting for women. Traditionally, women were expected to dedicate themselves to caring for their homes and families. Prior to the Industrial Revolution there were very few opportunities for women to earn wages. But the technological advancements of the era opened up some new opportunities. Business owners found that women had specific skills that made them useful workers. Most women were not able to break free of the traditional gender roles expected of them, but even the existence of the possibility was something new.  

The invention that would change Elizabeth’s life made its debut in 1844, when Elizabeth was 12 years old. That year, Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore. The telegraph worked by sending electric pulses over wire. Morse invented a code of pulses made up of combinations of long and short beeps that stood for each letter. This code was named Morse code in his honor. A telegraph operator could tap out their message in Morse code into a receiver that converted the taps into electric pulses. The electric pulses would travel by wire to the next receiver, where they would cause a machine to make long and short marks on a piece of paper. The operator on that end would then decode the marks to read the message. 

The telegraph revolutionized communication. Messages that once took days to travel by horseback could now be delivered in minutes. Things became even faster when operators learned to understand messages “by ear.” Instead of waiting for the machine to make its marks, they could just listen to the taps and decode as the message came in.

It’s unclear how Elizabeth ended up with her first job with the Atlantic & Ohio (A&O) telegraph office in Lewistown. It might be that she took to hanging around the building waiting for news like she used to do at the post office. Regardless, Elizabeth was hired to deliver telegram messages around town as they came in. Her intelligence and hard work impressed her manager. He taught her Morse code and how to use the machinery to send and receive messages. When her manager moved on to a better job in 1855, Elizabeth was promoted to the position of operator for her town. 

There were not many companies that hired women in 1855, but Atlantic & Ohio telegraph company made an exception because they were close to bankruptcy. Running the telegraph lines for their business cost a great deal of money, but people did not yet send enough telegrams for them to make the money back. A&O began to hire women operators in 1850 because they could pay them less then men. Initially, A&O ran lines directly into the women’s homes, so they could not be accused of empowering women to seek employment beyond the sheltering confines of their home and family. But enough women were already employed in factory work that public perceptions about working women were rapidly changing. By the time Elizabeth became an operator, she was able to work in the telegraph office without incident. 

Elizabeth was part of the network responsible for coordinating the safe passage of trains all over the Eastern seaboard.