Monday, April 29, 2024
Jake Caraway
BRIDGE STREET HISTORY CENTER
Jake Caraway, a vice president and loan officer at First National Bank in Granbury, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bridge Street History Center Museum.
Josephine "Jody" Cogdell was born in Granbury in 1897. She was the youngest of the eight children born to D.C. and Lucy Cogdell. As with many families, she was Daddy's favorite. Her brother, Buster, said that D.C. doted on all his children but especially so with Josephine.
In the two most recent Bridge Street History Center articles, I related how the Cogdell family was very wealthy. Josephine became what we would now call the "wild child." Josephine decided at the age of 16 or 17 that she needed to be liberated from the family.
The local story goes that she met a traveling salesman who was in town. His name was Jack Lewis, from California. They married and moved to his home in California. Josephine was still unhappy and the marriage did not last long. While living there she studied painting, dancing, Chinese philosophy and English poetry.
She was receiving an allowance from her father but it did not go far. The dancing led to working as a Mack Sennett bathing beauty as well as modeling as a pinup girl. She met a young artist in San Francisco named John Garth. They lived together unti11927 when they became unhappy with each other and decided to part ways.
Josephine decided she wanted to move to New York. D.C. was all right with this as long as her sister Lena went with her. She and Lena lived in Greenwich Village. Lena went home after a short while. To make money, Josephine wrote stories and poetry for various publications. She also tried her hand at writing a novel.
At some point Garth, from the previous relationship, followed her to New York. She tried to make the relationship work but could not. It was during this time that she went to meet with the editor of the "Messenger," George Schuyler. (I believe it was pronounced Skyler). He had published her works in the past but did not realize she was a woman from the south until this meeting in 1927.
The Messenger was a left-wing black publication. George was a known socialist. Apparently, she fell in love immediately. Later that year D.C. sent Lena back to New York to rescue Josephine from the bohemian atmosphere of the Village. The family had learned of her relationship with a black man and were very much against it.
She spent the 1927 Christmas holiday at home in Granbury. Afterward, she went back to New York. Josephine and George married on Jan. 6, 1928. In those days, an interracial marriage was unheard of, especially to southern families. I learned that some people in Harlem did not accept it either. It is not known if George ever visited Granbury.
When Josephine's father, D.C., died, his obituary gave her name as Josephine Cogdell of New York City. We must remember this took place nearly 100 years ago. Since this is an article on Granbury history, I choose not to get into that controversy.
If you would like to know more regarding their marriage, please read "Composition in Black and White: The Life of Philippa Schuyler" by Kathryn Talalay. Josephine was featured in two other books — "Miss Anne in Harlem" and "A Rebel Lady in Harlem: The Transformation of Josephine Cogdell Schuyler."
The Schuylers were high society in Harlem. They were known to have parties with the likes of W.E.B. Dubois and George Washington Carver. George continued with his work as a traveling writer and correspondent. Josephine wrote an advice column for The Pittsburgh Courier.
PHILIPPA
In 1931 their only daughter, Philippa, was born. Philippa's birth was kept a secret from Josephine's Texas family. Josephine was very attentive to Philippa's education because she was such a bright child. She was written about in a New York newspaper for her amazing spelling abilities at the age of 2. By the age of 4, Philippa was playing the piano and composing her own songs. At the age of 8, her IQ measured 185.
Philippa attended school some, but was mainly taught by private tutors. Philippa began playing recitals and concerts at a young age. When she tried to book concerts in some foreign countries, she was unable to get sponsorships due to her mixed race.
You may listen to some of her recordings on You Tube. When she was in her 30s, she began working as a journalist like her father. In 1967 while working in Vietnam, she was killed in a helicopter crash near Da Nang. Her funeral in New York was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is reported that thousands of people filled the streets as the procession went by.
In 1969, just before the anniversary of Philippa's death, Josephine took her own life by hanging. George died in 1977. Some Information was obtained from the Hood County News, along with Find a Grave Bios and “Composition in Black and White” by Kathryn Talalay.
www.bshc-granbury.org
