George Elliston

Who was George Elliston?

George Elliston was an American journalist born in Kentucky. Elliston was raised in Mt. Sterling, Ky., and graduated from Covington High School. She worked as a reporter for the Cincinnati Times-Star and later as the Society Editor for that newspaper.

She married Augustus Coleman in 1907 and lived briefly with him in St. Louis. She and Coleman separated, and Elliston lived simply and alone in Cincinnati for the remainder of her life.

Upon her death in Madisonville, Ohio, in 1946, Elliston bequeathed $250,000 to the University of Cincinnati to establish a chair "to promote the cause of poetry." The University of Cincinnati inaugurated the Elliston Poet-in-Residence Program in 1951.