2nd Great-Grandmother · Alice Eva Snell
The Most Beautiful Woman in Chicago
Alice Snell McCrea Green
Born 3 June 1867, Chicago · Died 6 November 1898, New York City · Age 31
Alice Snell McCrea
Photograph · Chicago · c. 1880s
Genealogical Record
Full Name
Alice Eva Green, formerly Snell, aka McCrea
Born
3 June 1867 · Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Died
6 November 1898 · New York City, New York · Age 31
Buried
Rosehill Cemetery & Mausoleum, Chicago · Find A Grave #164844658
Father
Amos Jerome Snell
Mother
Henrietta (Sedam) Snell
Siblings
Mary (Hughes) Stone · Albert Jerome Snell · Henrietta Grace (Snell) Coffin
First Marriage
Willey Solon McCrea · 8 Oct 1884, Chicago · Divorced 1888
Second Marriage
Douglass Green · 3 Feb 1890, Hampton, Virginia · Renewed 4 Jun 1891, Milwaukee
Biography
Life of Alice Eva Snell
Alice Eva was born 3 June 1867 in Chicago, Illinois, to Amos and Henrietta Snell. As a young woman, she was one of Chicago's acknowledged beauties, and was considered by many in New York to have been the most beautiful woman ever sent from the west to the east.
Beauty & Talent
Artists raved about her beauty and clamored for the privilege to paint her. She was also a woman of talent — one obituary noting that her sketches with brush and pen were greatly admired and her voice, an exceptional soprano, had been carefully trained in Europe. At some point in her life she wrote a song called Autone (Springtime) as well as a book entitled From London to Paris in a Two-Wheeler.
First Marriage & Divorce · 1884–1888 · Read Wiley's biography →
At age 17, Alice married Willey G. McCrea at Chicago, Illinois, in 1884. Willey and Alice were divorced in 1888 on the grounds of severe physical abuse on the part of Willey McCrea. Alice's father, who was then one of the richest men in Chicago, had been murdered earlier that year and had left her a fortune of $500,000. This may have been part of what gave her the sense of security she needed to leave her husband. Eventually the father received custody of the son, while the mother received custody of the daughter.
The Scandalous Elopement · 1890
Douglas Green
Newspaper sketch · c. 1890
The elopement of Alice (Snell) McCrea and Dougal Green caused a sensation for several reasons. Not only were they married in secret by a colored minister, but while Mrs. McCrea was divorced, Mr. Green was still married and the father of two children. The news of the marriage forced Green to resign from his prestigious job at a brokerage firm, his wife filed for divorce, and the couple fled to Europe. When they returned the following June, they were ostracized by the social elite. Alice and Douglass said their vows again on 4 June 1891 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Death · 6 November 1898
She passed away at age 31, on 6 November 1898 in the New York Hospital in New York City, from the effects of an unexpected operation following a lengthy illness.
Primary Sources
Citations & References
- 1
Illinois State Supreme Court, Reports of cases at law and in chancery argued and determined in the Supreme Court of Illinois, Stone vs. Salisbury, 1904, page 60.
- 2
"New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795–1949," FamilySearch, Alice Snell Green, 6 Nov 1898; FHL microfilm 1,322,951.
- 3
Death of Alice Snell Green, Appleton (WI) Post, 17 Nov 1898, p. 1.
- 4
"Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871–1968", FamilySearch, Willey G. McCrea and Alice E. Snell, 08 Oct 1884.
- 5
"Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871–1998," FamilySearch, Snell McCrea, 02 Oct 1920; Cook County Courthouse, Chicago.
- 6
"Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871–1949," FamilySearch, Henriette A McCrea, 04 Jan 1888; certificate 7907.
- 7
Death of Alice Snell Green, Appleton (WI) Post, 17 Nov 1898, p. 1.
- 8
"Virginia Marriages, 1785–1940", FamilySearch, Alice Snells McCrea in entry for Douglas Green, 1890.
- 9
New York Times, New York, New York, May 9, 1891.
- 10
"Wisconsin, County Marriages, 1836–1911," FamilySearch, Douglass Green and Alice E. McCrea, 04 Jun 1891; Wisconsin Historical Society.
- 11
"New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795–1949," FamilySearch, Alice Snell Green, 6 Nov 1898; FHL microfilm 1,322,951.
- 12
New York Times, Nov 9, 1898.
- 13
Find A Grave, memorial #164844658, Alice E. Snell McRea Green (3 Jun 1867–6 Nov 1898), Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.