When it comes to nursery rhymes it seems that every little kid knows at least a few nursery rhymes. The reason for this is that as parents we tend to pass down the nursery rhymes that we learned as children to our own children. But what you might not have thought of is that the nursery rhymes that we are passing down to our children provide great activities to help keep our young children active, not to mention these activities are a great teaching tool. But even though we all know and love Mother Goose and her nursery rhymes not many of us know where she actually came from.
In fact when it comes to answering the question where did Mother Goose come from there is actually no cut and dried answer. The reason for that is that nobody can agree on where she actually came from and there is no direct evidence to support just one theory. This means there is evidence of where Mother Goose came from that supports numerous theories, but there is no solid evidence that will give you an answer one way or the other.
Something else that you need to think about when it comes to the question where did Mother Goose come from is the fact that Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes are only well known in English speaking countries. These rhymes are English nonsense poems that were created to entertain children. Not only were these poems or rhymes created to entertain children they were also created to help teach children about different concepts, they were and are still a great teaching tool. They were not only created to teach children about concepts, such as language, vocabulary and math, but they were also created to help soothe children’s fears or to calm a child and help put them to sleep. It has also been said that Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes is a way to express the old evils that people believe existed and a way to shed light on those subjects.
Regardless of what people believe the three most popular theories about where Mother Goose came from are that she came from France, England and from America. But there is very little evidence to support the American theory, all there is to go on for this theory is the word of three people from the 19th century that Eliza Goose told these stories to her grandchildren and then her son-in-law printed a book based on these rhymes. But nobody but those three people have ever seen the book.
Now with the French connection there is actually a little bit more proof that Mother Goose came from France way. The Queen of France became known as Queen Goosefoot because she had one foot bigger than the other. But what many people believe is that Bertha de Laon, who was the Mother of Charlemagne, was actually Mother Goose. And people believe she became the original model for a French Statue that was found in front of some churches in France of a lady with children around her as she is telling stories. But the name Mother Goose was actually found in some French publications.
There are also rumors that Mother Goose came from England. This theory is that Martha Gooch who was a nursemaid who lived in Sussex, England in the early 1700’s was actually Mother Goose. The reason for this is that she used to sing rhymes to the children in her care and she was soon teased and called Mother Goose after the Queen of France because she was a bit odd.
Regardless of the theories the first book of actual nursery rhymes was printed in England in 1765. So although we might never know where Mother Goose actually came from it is still interesting to look for any information about her.