A native and lifelong resident of Westerly, Washington County, Mr. Cottrell has been for many years one of the leading business men of his native town. As an executive officer of the large manufacturing concern founded by his father and as a director in one of the leading financial institutions, he holds, of course, a prominent position in the business world of Rhode Island. He is also very active in civic affairs and at all times is ready and willing to support any undertaking promising to advance the welfare of the community, its people and its institutions.
Arthur Maxson Cottrell was born December 8, 1871, at Westerly, Washington County, a son of Calvert B. and Lydia Whitman (Perkins) Cottrell. His father was a native of Rhode Island and the founder of the C. B. Cottrell & Sons’ Company, one of the leading manufacturing concerns of Westerly. Mr. Cottrell’s mother was born in Connecticut. He himself received his education in the public grammar and high schools of Westerly and then attended Brown University, Providence, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in 1897. Ever since then he has been associated with his father in the business founded by the latter and today he is vice-president and treasurer of C. B. Cottrell & Sons’ Company. He is also a director of the Washington Trust Company of Westerly, a trustee of the Memorial Library Association of Westerly, president of the Westerly Hospital, and a charter member of the Misquamicut Club. In politics he is a supporter of the Republican party.
Mr. Cottrell married, December 1, 1903, Kate Virginia Hunkins, a native of Galena, Illinois. Mrs. Cottrell died in 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Cottrell had four children: 1. Kate Virginia Cottrell, born December 20, 1904. 2. Arthur Maxson Cottrell, Jr., born May 8, 1906, who married Violet Harkness Tangeman and who is engaged in the banking business in New York City. They are the parents of one son, John Trowbridge Cottrell. 3. John Trowbridge Cottrell, born August 29, 1908, now deceased. 4. Philip Whitman Cottrell, born January 25, 1913.
Source: Carroll, Charles. Rhode Island: Three Centuries of Democracy, vol 3 of 4. New York: Lewis historical Pub. Co., 1932.