When Bessie Louise Pelton was born on 24 May 1885, in Southbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, her father, Frank Lincoln Pelton, was 19 and her mother, Lucy Jane West, was 19. She married Edwin Allen Porter on 3 October 1904, in Bristol, Hartford, Connecticut, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 1 daughter. She died on 16 December 1938, in Bristol, Hartford, Connecticut, United States, at the age of 53, and was buried in Bristol, Hartford, Connecticut, United States.