The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

TILGHMAN, ZOE AGNES STRATTON (1880–1964)

Zoe Agnes Stratton was born in Greenwood County, Kansas, on November 15, 1880, to Mayo E. and Agnes M. Stratton. Mayo Stratton had herded cattle up the Chisholm Trail and was a member of the Kansas Bar Association. In 1887 the Stratton family moved to Osage County, leased ranch land from the Osage, and then moved to Tonkawa and Ingalls. Father and daughter worked together on the ranch. She was described as a “pioneer woman” and not the typical lady. After being homeschooled for many years, she went on to attend the University of Oklahoma Preparatory School and then the university. During this time she published her first poem in the school’s literary magazine, University Umpire.

During her school breaks Tilghman returned to Lincoln County and the ranch. There she met her future husband William “Bill” Tilghman. They were married on July 15, 1903, and had three children, Richard, Tench, and Woodrow. Her experiences with Bill Tilghman were an important influence on her later writing career. She wrote his biography and sued a newspaper that called him a coward. After he died in 1924, she turned to writing to make a living.

Her literary career included poetry, children’s stories, and articles in women’s magazines. In 1925 her first book, The Dugout, was published by Harlow’s Weekly. Tilghman organized a poetry society in 1934, hoping to encourage new writers and featuring already-known poets. The society published an anthology that was used in schools and libraries. She wrote a column in Harlow’s called “Among Oklahoma’s Literary People” in which she gave constructive criticism to writers and profiled famous and emerging Oklahoma writers. She worked for Harlow’s until 1935 when she was hired to be the assistant director of the Federal Writers’ Project. She was interested in sharing her knowledge of Oklahoma and using her literary skills.

Tilghman’s time with the FWP was one of the most tumultuous periods in her career. The FWP’s main goal was to produce a guidebook for the state of Oklahoma, collect interviews, and index newspapers. Her duties included editing and correcting submissions from the project’s researchers. The project’s director, William Cunningham, a poet, had communist leanings. Tilghman became embroiled in a controversy over whether communists had infiltrated the FWP. She invited U.S. Sen. Martian Dies, who chaired the Dies Committee, later known as the House Un-American Activities Committee, to come and investigate. She wrote a seven-page statement relating the FWP staff’s ongoing activities and their adverse effects on the project. Cunningham resigned in 1938 and was replaced by Jim Thompson. A year later Oklahoma’s FWP was temporarily suspended, and when it was restarted, Tilghman was no longer a part.

Leaving the guidebook staff, she went back to school to study languages and education. She received a bachelor of arts degree in education from Central State College (now University of Central Oklahoma), Edmond, in 1947. After publishing the biography of her husband, Marshall of the Last Frontier, in 1949, she was contacted by a movie producer who was interested in using a scene from the book. She appeared in the television series Death Valley Days and worked as a consultant on Western movies. She spent the rest of her life as a writer. Tilghman died of cancer on June 13, 1964, in Oklahoma City and was buried next to her husband and son Richard in Chandler, Oklahoma.

Mallory Covington