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Ella Poe traveled world, became D.C. hostess
Cedar Rapids native Ella Poe Cotton (background, center) sits at a table with her husband, Capt. Joseph Cotton, in January 1939 with George Rublee, the head of United Press in Germany, and several members of the German Wehrmacht armed forces. (The History Center)
Ella Poe, born Dec. 9, 1907, grew up in Cedar Rapids as the daughter of prominent businessman Arthur Poe, manager of Quaker Oats, but she made a name of her own.
Arthur Poe was president of the board of trustees at Coe College, where Poe Chapel was named in his honor. He also was president of the Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce and vice president of the St. Luke's Hospital board of directors.
Ella Poe married Army Capt. Joseph Cotton in Cedar Rapids on July 2, 1932.
He was assigned to Berlin in 1938 as a representative of the U.S. government. While there, he and Ella worked with the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, helping resettle German and Austrian Jewish refugees before the outbreak of World War II.
Joseph died in the war on Jan. 5, 1945, in Rome.
On Oct. 26, 1946, Ella married Edward B. Burling Jr., a lawyer at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., where she was a well-known hostess and philanthropist.
She died April 27, 2002, at age 94 at the Georgetown University Medical Center after a heart attack. Both of her sons died young — Joseph Cotton III at age 7 or 8 in 1942 and Matthew Poe Burling at age 18 in 1963.
Tara Templeman is curator at The History Center. Comments: curator@historycenter.org
Ella Poe plays with her sister, Anne, in Cedar Rapids in the 1920s. Their childhood home was at what is now 300 27th St. Dr. SE. (The History Center)
Ella Poe and Joseph Cotton are shown on their wedding day, July 2, 1933. Cotton was a captain in the U.S. Army, and they traveled extensively in Europe before World War II. (The History Center)
