Jessie Wilmore Murton

Born in Kirksville, Kentucky, poet Jessie Wilmore Murton lived in Battle Creek, Michigan. Frequently utilizing the ballad form, Murton incorporated historical context into her inspirational poems for children. Her numerous volumes of poetry include Frankincense and Myrrh (1939), The Shining Thread: Selected Poems (1950), and A Child’s Book of Verses (1952). In 1935, with poets Clifford Allen and Carl Edwin Burkland, Murton was a founding member of the poetry group now known as the Poetry Society of Michigan.