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Until she became his bride in 1907, Mary Ellen "Nellie"
O'Hagan (1866–1947) was secretary to Iroquois
Theater manager,
Will J. Davis. She was born in New York, the
second daughter of five or six children born to
Matthew O'Hagan (1825–1871) and Mary Egan O'Hagan
(1829–1893). Her father was a farmer who emigrated
from Ireland. In the 1860s and 1870s, the family
lived in the Lisbon, New York area, in St. Lawrence
county. By the late 1800s, they'd moved to nearby
Ogdensburg, New York.
In 1891 Nellie moved from Ogdensburg to Chicago,
living there with her brother, James M. O'Hagen. Two
years later, she went to work for Will J. Davis as
his stenographer and secretary. In later years she
would report in the census that she only attended
school until the 8th grade, but the little bit of
information available about her suggests that
despite a limited education, she was bright and
capable. At the time of her marriage to Davis, it
was reported that she demonstrated her executive
skills early on in her employment by her management
of the Tippecanoe Quartet.
In 1903 she worked at the Illinois Theater, where
Davis maintained his primary offices. Four years
later, at age forty-six, two years after the death
of his wife, Jessie Bartlett Davis, and soon after
his acquittal in the Iroquois Theater fire disaster,
Nellie and Will married, the service conducted in
Buchanan, Michigan by Chicago's celebrity Catholic
priest, Father Maurice Dorney. It was a small, quiet
ceremony, but the actress
Lillian Russell was performing in the area and
attended the wedding.
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After Davis's 1919 death, Nellie adopted a child and spent
the rest of her life at Davis' farm in Crown Point,
Indiana, Willowdale. Will and Jessie's son,
Willie Davis, and his family also lived in Crown
Point until 1938 and were part of Nellie's extended
family. Father Dorney purchased land near Willowdale
for his retirement but may not have lived long
enough to enjoy it.
Reportedly Nellie was once noted for her beautiful
dark hair, but it reportedly turned white three
months before the Iroquois Theater fire when her
fiancé, Herbert J. Davis (1859-1903), died at age
forty-four. His death was not unexpected. Ill for at
least eighteen months with throat cancer, he had
retired from his legal practice with Lowden, Davis &
Estabrook, where Western Union was one of his
important clients. Reportedly illness had also
prompted his declining an appointment by President
McKinley to the position of civil governor of the
Philippines and resignation of an appointment by
Taft to the Philippine supreme court. I found
nothing to support the civil governor story or to
suggest how a Chicago theater secretary became
betrothed to a prominent attorney and former judge.
Nellie received letters of concern and condolence relative to her fiancé's illness and death from acquaintances made through her work at the Illinois Theater. One such letter came from the well known harness driver, John Splan, a longtime friend of Will J. Davis.
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Discrepancies and addendum
The name O'Hagan was often shortened and misconstrued as
Hagan, Hagen, Hogan, Eagan, Egan, and even Higgins,
making researching Nellie a challenge.
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