Discovering my 3rd Great Grandfather, Amos Jerome Snell
Amos Jerome Snell, Murdered Chicago Titan
Unearthing My Roots: The Story of Amos Jerome Snell
By Robin Beckham, 3rd Great-Granddaughter of Amos Jerome Snell
You never truly know what you’ll discover about your family roots until you begin digging. When I first started my ancestry research, I carried a quiet fear that I might uncover slave owners, Confederates, or even members of the KKK hidden somewhere in the branches. Some of those stories may still be waiting in the shadows, but that is not the one I am telling today.
For years, I’ve been piecing together my family’s history, guided almost spiritually by the voice of Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the brilliant host of Finding Your Roots. With his calm, professorial tone as my imaginary companion, I launched a website to share the remarkable — and tragic — story of my 3rd great-grandfather, Amos Jerome Snell. Born December 28, 1823. Murdered in his Chicago mansion on February 8, 1888, at age 64.
At the height of his influence, Amos was considered one of Chicago’s premier businessmen and real estate titans — possibly the city’s single largest individual landowner. Some accounts say he owned more than 360 marble-front houses and vast commercial holdings. His murder stunned the city so profoundly that his family offered a $50,000 reward — the largest ever offered at that time for the capture of any human being.
More than 40 people were arrested in connection. One primary suspect, William Tascott, was named but never caught.
With my background as a news reporter, I sometimes imagine stepping back in time, press pass in hand, standing on the icy sidewalk of Washington Boulevard the morning after he was killed. Detectives whispering theories. Reporters shouting questions. Chicago buzzing with suspicion and fear. And I see myself walking up those stone steps, notebook open, prepared to cover the biggest story of the century — not yet knowing that the man lying dead inside was my own blood.
Then I imagine something even more surreal:
What if I could go back the night before, knock on the door, and tell him the truth?
“Mr. Snell, you don’t know me yet — but I’m your 3rd great-granddaughter. And I’m a Black woman.”
How would he react?
Would he be shocked?
Would he embrace me?
Would he understand that the legacy he built rippled across generations, touching people he would never meet — including descendants who look nothing like him?
And would he care that I am the one telling his story now?
Amos arrived in Chicago around 1844 with only $18.50 in his pocket. He and his wife Henrietta built their fortune from the ground up — first through a lucrative lumber contract with the North-Western Railroad, and then through relentless building and land acquisition. By the time of his death, his estate was estimated at $3 million — the equivalent of more than $75 million today. He owned at least 400 residences and commercial buildings, along with extensive property across Illinois and Iowa. His mansion at Washington Boulevard and Ada Street was one of the grandest homes on Chicago’s West Side.
He was respected — and resented.
On one hand, he was celebrated for his generosity:
“Mr. Snell was ever the poor man’s friend. When renters on his farms had poor crops or fell behind, he carried them over, saying, ‘It will be better next year.’”
But there was another side to the story — one that complicated his image.
As the owner of the North-Western Plank Road tollway, Amos charged steep, unregulated fees to farmers, merchants, and travelers. His tollhouse gate controlled one of the major routes into Chicago’s gateway. That monopoly generated enormous profits — and enormous resentment. There were lawsuits, angry letters, confrontations, and quiet threats.
In many ways, Amos embodied the contradictions of the Gilded Age:
the self-made man who uplifted the poor,
and the ruthless entrepreneur whose business decisions burdened those same working people.
This duality fascinates me. It forces me to ask harder, more uncomfortable questions:
Did Amos rise to power through opportunities available only to white men of his era?
Did he profit from systems that disadvantaged the very people he also tried to help?
And what did it cost him — morally, spiritually, personally — to climb so high?
His story is not simple.
Neither is his legacy.
And perhaps that is why I feel compelled to tell it.
As an African American woman — with a Black father and a white mother — I often wonder what Amos, a white man of German heritage living in a racially restricted America, would make of me. In his lifetime, Black families were still barred from settling in many parts of Illinois. And yet here I stand, generations later, uncovering the hidden truths of a man whose blood runs through my own veins.
No one in my family passed down his story.
I found him through DNA, archives, and newspapers.
My grandfather, William Gordon McCrea, was one of eleven heirs who received a portion of the estate when it was divided in 1941 — but the tale never traveled far enough to reach me.
So now I carry it.
And I keep returning to one question:
What’s legacy got to do with it?
Maybe everything.
Legacy isn’t just wealth or property.
It’s the echo a person leaves behind — the impact they make on strangers, descendants, and the world itself.
And maybe it was always meant to be me —
his Black 3rd great-granddaughter,
a former reporter,
a storyteller,
a woman determined to reclaim what was lost,
who would finally pick up his unfinished story.
Amos J. Snell helped build Chicago.
He rose from nothing.
He changed the landscape of a major American city.
He navigated contradictions, privilege, and ambition.
And his life ended in a mystery that has remained unsolved for 136 years.
I continue to research because the story is not over.
His murder remains unsolved.
Parts of his legacy lie in shadow.
And I believe there is still truth waiting to be found.
One day, I hope to uncover it all.
See how I am a direct descendent to Snell
Amos Jerome Snell in a Snapshot
Biography
Murder Mystery
Snell Family
A millionaire real estate tycoo, the owner of a toll road from Chicago to suburban Wheeling, who was murdered in his home on February 9, 1888. Willie Tascott was suspected in the killing but he fled Chicago and was never seen again.
Snell Family
Murder Mystery
Snell Family
During the 1800's the Snell Family in Chicago, Illinois was periodically featured in the news headlines for various social and news related stories. As one of the wealthiest families in the city, there was constant focus on the family members lives.
Murder Mystery
Murder Mystery
Murder Mystery
The murder of Amos Snell was one of the most covered cases in 1888. The family put up one of the largest rewards to capture the suspect, the case is still a mystery today.
Snell Toll Road
Snell Toll Road
Murder Mystery
Snell bought from Cook County the right-of-way which extended from Chicago’s city limits to what was then the village of Jefferson, giving Snell a monopoly on all the major roads that led into Chicago.
Legacy
Snell Toll Road
I am related
On behalf of her husband, Henrietta Snell donated $50,000 to the University of Chicago to build the men's dormitory Snell Hall as a memorial to her late husband, Amos J. Snell. Designed by the architect Henry Ives Cobb, the building was completed in 1893.
I am related
Snell Toll Road
I am related
How I am related to the Snell family, the process of digging into my family tree was very exciting and there was always something new to discover about a family member. This process helped me better understand who I am today.