 Cordelia Ray, who had six siblings including two sisters, Charlotte and Florence, was born in New York City to Charlotte Augusta Burrough and clergyman, abolitionist, and newspaper publisher Charles B. Ray, and named for his first wife, Henrietta Ray.In 1891 Cordelia graduated from the University of the City of New York with a master's in pedagogy.She also studied French, German, Greek and Latin at the Saveneur School of Languages.