Marion Benedict Cothren (1880–1949) was an American suffrage and peace activist, lawyer, and children's author.

Early life and education

Marion Benedict was born and raised in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

by her parents William Marsh Benedict (a lawyer) and Grace Dillingham Benedict (a Vassar alumna). Marion was a 1900 graduate of

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

and pursued teacher training at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

(MA 1901). She was admitted to the New York bar in 1909.

Career

Marion Cothren went to Europe during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

to work with the

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a aid agency, humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of Law of ...

at Toul, France, an experience she credited with confirming her pacifism: "When I finally left France I took with me not only the pacifist's theoretical hatred of war, but a hatred born of an overwhelming sympathy for those who warred." Marion B. Cothren was a member of the College Equal Suffrage League, the New York chapter of the

Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a United States, U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL pla ...

, and

Heterodoxy In religion, heterodoxy (from Ancient Greek: , + , ) means "any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position". ''Heterodoxy'' is also an ecclesiastical jargon term, defined in various ways by different religions and ...

, a feminist debating club based in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

, among other clubwork. She was on the National Advisory Council of the

National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NWP ...

, one of the honorary chairs of the

Woman's Peace Party The Woman's Peace Party (WPP) was an American Pacifism, pacifist and First-wave feminism, feminist organization formally established in January 1915 in response to World War I. The organization is remembered as the first American peace organizatio ...

when it was founded in 1915, and was one of the thirty American women to attend the

International Congress of Women The International Congress of Women was created so that groups of existing women's suffrage movements could come together with other women's groups around the world. It served as a way for women organizations across the nation to establish formal ...

at the Hague that same year. Cothren was also a vocal supporter of

Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger ( Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instr ...

, and served as president of the New York Women's Publishing Company, the publisher of '' Birth Control Review,'' from 1918 to 1923. Marion Cothren's writings for children included '' Cher Ami: The Story of a Carrier Pigeon'' (1934), ''The Adventures of Dudley and Guilderoy'' (1941), ''Pigeon Heroes: Birds of War and Messengers of Peace'' (1944), ''Buried Treasure: The Story of America's Coal'' (1945),''This is the Moon'' (1946), and ''Pictures of France by her Children'' (published posthumously, 1950). She also wrote ''The ABC of Voting, A Handbook of Government and Politics for the Women of New York State'' (1918) to instruct new female voters.

Personal life

Marion Benedict married lawyer Frank Howard Cothren in 1904. They had one daughter, Frances (later Mrs. J. Roy Fuller). Marion Cothren was widowed in 1914 when her husband, who had been ill, overdosed on morphine. During the 1930s, she lived with sculptor Janet Scudder in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. She moved back to the US in 1940. She died in 1949, age 69, accidentally falling from a cliff in Maine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cothren, Marion American suffragists 1880 births 1949 deaths American women in World War I Vassar College alumni Members of the College Equal Suffrage League International Congress of Women people Red Cross personnel National Woman's Party activists