Wiley Solon McCrea

Children with Alice Snell

W.S. McCrea & Co.

Head of his own Chicago commission house — grain, commodities, and the money that moved through the Board of Trade

Standard Oil

Treasurer of the Standard Oil Company — Rockefeller's empire, the most powerful corporation in America

All the Clubs

Member of every fashionable club in Chicago — the Union League, the Chicago Club, the inner circles of Gilded Age society

Infrastructure

Geneva Lake Level Corporation

McCrea was a founding director of the Geneva Lake Level Corporation, established to regulate water levels, operate a water power mill, and manage land improvements around Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He served alongside Gilded Age titans Samuel W. Allerton and Levi Z. Leiter.

Civic Duty

Cook County Grand Juror

Rooted in Chicago's political and legal networks, McCrea was appointed to serve as a grand juror for high-profile municipal investigations in Cook County during the 1890s — the same decade he was rebuilding his reputation after the divorce scandal.

Natural Sciences

American Ornithologists' Union

An unexpected dimension of the man: McCrea maintained an active membership in the American Ornithologists' Union, reflecting a genuine personal interest in natural history and bird science — a pursuit at odds with his image as a hard-nosed Chicago financier.

I

1884

Alice Eva Snell

Married 8 October 1884, Chicago · Divorced October 1888

Daughter of murdered millionaire Amos J. Snell. Two children: William Snell McCrea (b. 1885) and Henriette A. McCrea (b. 1888). Divorced on grounds of severe physical abuse. Alice inherited $500,000 from her father's estate that same year — the financial independence that made leaving possible.

II

1891

Mrs. Reinette (Thomas) Lester

Married 26 November 1891, Chicago · She died 1916

A widow when they married, Reinette was a remarkable woman in her own right. She became active in the women's suffrage movement in the late 1890s and was a charter member of the Lake Geneva Garden Club. Through her estate, the McCrea legacy is permanently tied to Lake Geneva — she funded the famous "Three Graces" statue at Flat Iron Park, which still stands today. She predeceased Wiley by eleven years, dying in 1916.

III

1921

Vera Danford

Married 31 December 1921, Chicago · He was 63; she was 24

Vera Danford had been Wiley's secretary. She was present in his office on October 2, 1920 — the day his son William traveled from Idaho and fired three shots at him. William died. Wiley survived. Fourteen months later, on New Year's Eve 1921, Wiley married Vera. He was 63; she was 24. Wiley died on May 27, 1927 — leaving Vera, at age 30, a financially secure widow embedded in one of Chicago's most prominent dynasties. His father Samuel Harkness McCrea had been City Treasurer of Chicago and a major figure on the Chicago Board of Trade. Vera went on to maintain connections in both Chicago and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She died in 1991 at approximately age 94 — outliving Wiley by 64 years.

William's childhood was shattered when he was just three years old. His mother filed for divorce citing extreme cruelty, and the family fractured. Alice took Henriette to live in exile in Paris. William was awarded to his father — the man who had beaten his mother. When Alice died in 1898, William was 13, already living in Wiley's household.

William eventually escaped Chicago entirely. He married Algenia Sally Trude in 1908, moved to Rea, Idaho, and had four children: William Gordon, Reinette, Margery Trude, and Coralyn McCrea.

On October 2, 1920, William traveled from Idaho to Chicago. He went to the Peoples Gas Building — his father's office — and attempted to shoot him. His father's secretary, Vera Danford, was present in the office as a witness. The attempt failed. The gun discharged into William's own head. He died without regaining consciousness. He was 35. Wiley survived, was never charged, and married Vera fourteen months later on New Year's Eve 1921.