Bessie (Elizabeth) Boies Cotton was born on April 5, 1880 in Hudson, Michigan to banker, insurance investor, and state politician John Keep Boies and teacher Mary Worthington Colton Boies. Orphaned at age eleven, she spent much of her childhood with her uncle and aunt, Frank and Abbie (Colton) Childs on a farm outside of Hudson. She attended the Mary Burnham School in Northampton, Massachusetts, and then entered the Lake Erie College for Women in Painesville, Ohio, to prepare for college. After graduating from Smith College in 1903 with a degree in history, she taught at Lake Erie College for three years. She attended the University of Chicago, earning an M.A. in history in 1908. Boies attended some graduate classes at Columbia University during the 1908-09 academic year. Bessie Boies began her work with the YWCA of the USA in 1910. In 1917, Russian women within the Kerensky Provisional Government invited the YWCA to help working women, recently granted full civil rights, to organize themselves for their new role in society. Boies and one other secretary set up the first association in Petrograd. With a growing staff of specialists, they established an association in Moscow and worked with women's groups in other cities. With the YMCA, they operated a shipboard exhibition along the Volga River, demonstrating improved nutrition, childcare, and farming methods to villagers. The political upheavals as the Bolsheviks seized control, the danger of German invasion after March 1918, and the Allied intervention in northern Russia in support of the anti-Bolsheviks led to the expulsion of all Americans. Boies made her way through Stockholm to Archangel where she set up box-car canteens for U.S. troops. While in Russia she met Thomas Cotton and they were married in 1919 (they were divorced in 1938). They had two children, John Boies Cotton and Deborah Boies Cotton Leighton. In 1921, after returning to the U.S., Bessie Cotton was appointed foreign staff secretary, responsible for seeking out candidates for foreign service, planning their training, and supervising their work abroad. Although she retired in 1940, she continued to work as a YWCA consultant. Her last years were devoted to peace and women's rights through membership in a number of organizations. She died in Los Angeles, California, on April 23, 1959.(source: Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Libraries.)
Bessie (Elizabeth) Boies Cotton was born on April 5, 1880 in Hudson, Michigan to banker, insurance investor, and state politician John Keep Boies and teacher Mary Worthington Colton Boies. Orphaned at age eleven, she spent much of her childhood with her uncle and aunt, Frank and Abbie (Colton) Childs on a farm outside of Hudson. She attended the Mary Burnham School in Northampton, Massachusetts, and then entered the Lake Erie College for Women in Painesville, Ohio, to prepare for college. After graduating from Smith College in 1903 with a degree in history, she taught at Lake Erie College for three years. She attended the University of Chicago, earning an M.A. in history in 1908. Boies attended some graduate classes at Columbia University during the 1908-09 academic year. Bessie Boies began her work with the YWCA of the USA in 1910. In 1917, Russian women within the Kerensky Provisional Government invited the YWCA to help working women, recently granted full civil rights, to organize themselves for their new role in society. Boies and one other secretary set up the first association in Petrograd. With a growing staff of specialists, they established an association in Moscow and worked with women's groups in other cities. With the YMCA, they operated a shipboard exhibition along the Volga River, demonstrating improved nutrition, childcare, and farming methods to villagers. The political upheavals as the Bolsheviks seized control, the danger of German invasion after March 1918, and the Allied intervention in northern Russia in support of the anti-Bolsheviks led to the expulsion of all Americans. Boies made her way through Stockholm to Archangel where she set up box-car canteens for U.S. troops. While in Russia she met Thomas Cotton and they were married in 1919 (they were divorced in 1938). They had two children, John Boies Cotton and Deborah Boies Cotton Leighton. In 1921, after returning to the U.S., Bessie Cotton was appointed foreign staff secretary, responsible for seeking out candidates for foreign service, planning their training, and supervising their work abroad. Although she retired in 1940, she continued to work as a YWCA consultant. Her last years were devoted to peace and women's rights through membership in a number of organizations. She died in Los Angeles, California, on April 23, 1959.(source: Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Libraries.)
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