..... that there really was a Mother Goose. Elizabeth Goose adopted 10 children, then had 6 of her own, and in her spare time wrote rhymes, which were later published (in 1719?) by the spouse of one of her many children. But since no copy of the purported rhyme book has ever turned up, many doubt the story. Instead, some point to Charles Perrault, author of fairy tales and also of the Tales of My Mother Goose (1697), as the true originator of the avian character.
Per Barbara Berliner, The Book of Answers (Simon & Schuster, 1990)
