Ellery Channing Spinney

• General Notes
  • Sometime after their marriage in 1874 and before the birth of their first child, Ellery and Eliza moved to Chicago, Illinois. They settled in the Hyde Park area. The family was very prosperous, eventually having a bank on 39th and Cottage Grove. Ellery worked at the Chicago Board of Trade, being the first of four generations of Spinney's to do so. The family lost everything when Ellery built several apartment buildings on 63rd Street just before and during the World's Fair. His son, Harry, said they even had a nursemaid in their home. Their home was on Drexel Boulevard and about 40th Street. It became very run down with time. As an example of how bad it was there, Harry related a story of how he had been bitten in the ear by a rat one night.
    There was a depression that started in 1892. Even though there was great prosperity in the year 1892, upheavals were in the making. Strikes broke out in steel mills in Pennsylvania and before the year was over there were some 1,300 additional strikes. Wheat and corn prices were at or below the cost to produce them. The depression tightened its grip in the opening month of 1893. The year 1894 say things go from bad to worse to disastrous. There were two to three million unemployed, more than 12,000 (1,200?) businesses failures and almost a fifth of the nation's railroad mileage in receivership. This also was a year of strikes, the biggest was the Pullman strike in Chicago, Illinois. It was properour and hard working. However, they lost most of their money in the mid 1890's when Ellery built several apartment buildings on 63rd Street before or during the World's Fair.
    Ellery committed suicide after losing all of his money. However, Eliza was always able to return to Lynn, Massachusetts in the summer time to visit with various relatives.
    But after Ellery killed himself the family home became rather run down. After living on Drexel Boulevard, the family moved to an apartment at about 40th and Lake Streets. Maud and Harry were married in their apartment.