Bessie Bell Collier

Bessie Bell Collier was born in Cohasset, Massachusetts, the eldest of five children born to Edmund Pomeroy Collier and Ella Bell Sargent Collier. From ages 8 to 18, she studied violin with Franz Kneisel.[1] She was already known for her musical skills and performing at concerts by age 10.[2] As a young woman she played the violin at society events in Cohasset, with her sister Grace Anna playing piano.[3]

Bessie Bell Collier was a violinist. She made her professional debut at Steinert Hall in Boston in 1905.[4] She appeared as a soloist with the Boston Symphony, the New York Symphony, the St. Paul Symphony, and others.[5] In 1910–1911 she was a soloist at Walter Damrosch's Philharmonic Concerts for Young People.[6] "Miss Collier's ability does not lie in digital expertness, nor in a precise articulation of the bow," commented The Boston Globe in 1912. "Her playing indicates a refined mind, sensibility to emotion, and a respect for her instrument as a medium for interpretation rather than of mere display."[7]

In 1913 Collier and singer Marie Sundelius gave a benefit concert to raise funds for the American Red Cross for flood victims.[8] She gave benefit concerts during World War I for the French Wounded Fund.[9] She also funded a scholarship for women students of her old teacher, Franz Kneisel, when he taught at Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill, Maine.[10]

The Ellerys built Dreamhome, a summer estate in Woodstock, Maine, in 1916.[11] They wrote about their gardens for botanical publications.[12]

Bessie Bell Collier married Boston wool merchant William Ellery in 1914, in Boston.[13][14] She was widowed when William died in 1961.[15] She died in 1969, aged 84 years, in Massachusetts.[16]

• Bessie Bell Collier at Find a Grave