Alice Snell McCrea Green

A Personal Discovery

When I started to research Alice Snell McCrea Green, my 2nd great-grandmother, I was shocked by all the headlines surrounding her short life — a life that ended when she was just 31 years old. Beyond being considered one of Chicago's most beautiful women, she appeared to be a woman who understood her high standing in society because of her wealth and beauty.

"I recollect Allie Snell as a pretty little girl, with big brown eyes and golden curls, bubbling over with innocent fun."

Contemporary press account

Who She Was

Born Alice Eva Snell in 1867, she was the youngest daughter of Amos Jerome Snell — Chicago's most powerful real estate millionaire and toll-road tycoon. Growing up in his sprawling Washington Boulevard mansion, Alice was raised in the highest tier of Gilded Age society, surrounded by wealth, influence, and the social expectations that came with it.

Beauty & Talent

As a young woman, Alice was one of Chicago's acknowledged beauties, considered by many in New York to have been the most beautiful woman ever sent from the west to the east. Artists raved about her beauty and clamored for the privilege to paint her. She was also a woman of talent — her sketches with brush and pen were greatly admired and her voice, an exceptional soprano, had been carefully trained in Europe. She wrote a song called Autone (Springtime) and a book entitled From London to Paris in a Two-Wheeler.

Born

1867

Chicago, Illinois

Father

Amos J. Snell

Real estate millionaire

Inheritance

$500,000

Upon his murder, 1888

Died

Nov 7, 1898

New York City, age 31

The Elopement with Douglas Green

She died Mrs. Douglas Green

Alice Snell McCrea Green died on November 7, 1898 in New York City, aged 31. Her obituaries ran under the name Mrs. Douglas Green. She is buried at Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago. Her daughter Henriette went on to become a celebrated translator and theater critic; her son William remained in the custody of Wiley McCrea.

Step 1 · The Frame

The gilded frame bears the artist's signature on the back canvas: Julian, in his own hand.

Step 2 · In Storage

In storage for decades, not on display. I was the first family member to see it since Henrietta donated it in 1984.

Step 3 · The Label

That partial label seen through the wire was the moment I knew for certain I had found her.

There she was. My 2nd great-grandmother — painted in the 1880s by one of the most sought-after portrait artists of the Gilded Age, donated to the museum by her daughter Henrietta in 1984, and unseen by family for over thirty years. The portrait had been waiting in that storage room the whole time.

Catalogue Record