Test your knowledge of Apollo’ s famous citizen Nellie Bly with the questions below!
What was Nellie Bly’s birth name?
Elizabeth Jane Cochran.
Correct! She added the “e” to Cochran later in life because she thought it looked more sophisticated!
Eleanor Jane Cochrane.
Wrong. Try again!
When was Nellie Bly born?
May 5, 1864
Correct! She was born in Cochran’s Mills, PA.
May 5, 1884
Wrong. Try again!
Elizabeth’s childhood nickname was???
Pink
Correct! Her mother would dress her in pink instead of the usual drab gray!
Lizzie
Actually Elizabeth was known to sign her name as Lizzie on occasion!
Nellie
She didn’t take the name Nellie Bly until she began writing for the Pittsburg Dispatch.
Elizabeth had how many siblings/half siblings?
14
Correct! Her father, Michael Cochran had 10 children with his first wife, then 5 more with Elizabeth’s mother, Mary Jane.
10
Wrong. Try again!
Which event came first in Nellie Bly’s life?
Her adventure in Blackwell’s Island, home of the infamous Women’s Lunatic Asylum.
Correct! She got herself committed there in 1887 to expose the horrible conditions.
Her trip around the world.
That happened in 1889 in a successful attempt to beat Jules Verne’s book “Around the World in Eighty Days.
Apollo Area Historical Society 