Alice May Winchester McCray    

ALICE MAY MCCRAY. Erie county claims Mrs. Alice May (Winchester) McCray as a native daughter, and her career has reflected honor upon the place of her birth. She was born at Lundy’s Lane on the 28th of June, 1870, to the marriage union of James M. and Lizzie L. (Rich) Winchester. James M. Winchester was a farmer until 1899 when he engaged in the flour and feed business. The daughter received her elementary training in the district schools of Pageville and at the Wellsburg high school, from which she graduated in 1886. Following this she pursued a four years’ course in English and American literature, as prescribed by the “Y. P. S. and L. G.,” at Ocean Park, Old Orchard, Maine, and graduated in 1894, and still later took a course of study in occultism and was granted a diploma by Dr. L. W. DeLaurence, of Chicago, Illinois, in 1904.

From her earliest girlhood Mrs. McCray has displayed studious habits and literary, musical and artistic tastes. Her first step after leaving the school room as a pupil was to teach school in order to earn a livelihood and to enable her to pursue a still higher training, and she taught for six years, both in district and high schools. Since 1886, however, she has been engaged more or less in literary work, and has contributed to the following magazines and periodicals: “Eltka,” “Benjamite,” “Scroll,” “Dayspring,” “Sunflower,” “Light of Truth,” and “Progressive Thinker.” From 1894 until 1905 Mrs. McCray spent the winter months in Warren county, Pennsylvania, living during the summers at Lily Dale, New York, a beautiful lake resort and great educational center. During these years she devoted much of her time to portrait work, and many of her productions were sold to residents of Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Allegheny, Warren, Oil City, Spring Creek, Corry and Erie, Pennsylvania; Buffalo and Lily Dale, New York; Cleveland and Olmsted Falls, Ohio; and Detroit and Saginaw, Michigan; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a portrait artist of superior ability. During the year of 1907 she was secretary of the Belding Sanitarium at Belding, Michigan, and she spent a summer vacation at Grand Ledge, a beautiful resort on Grand river in that state.

During the intervening years from 1888 until 1894 Mrs. McCray was a member of the Free Will Baptist church at Wellsburg, Pennsylvania, but possessing an investigating mind and at all times receptive to truth from whatsoever source it might come, she delved deeply into all religious philosophies and finally came to the same conclusion as John Ruskin—that wherever one hand meets another helpfully there is the only true and mother church, so she is no longer bound by creed but belongs to the great church of humanity, which teaches practical duties toward each other in this life, leads us to worship what we see of the divine in each other and shows us that loving, human fellowship is the real divine communion. She is a great lover of the occult and mystical. a deep sympathizer with the joys and sorrows of others, and in her life- time she has been associated with many prominent people, whose influence have helped her in moulding her life. Her splendid educational training was obtained under great disadvantages and adverse circumstances, and she has suffered many hardships on her road to success and renown, and although always aspiring and ambitious she is also thoughtful and contemplative. She is a lover of nature and possesses splendid knowledge in scientific pursuits.

On November 12, 1894, Alice May Winchester was united in marriage in Erie to W. A. McCray, a lecturer and writer. Mrs. McCray has one sister, Mrs. Leonore Martin, wife of Frank Martin, a railroad man, of Lundy’s Lane, Pennsylvania, and she is the mother of five children, viz.: Leon, Florence (deceased), Pauline, Fenton, and Geraldine.

A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1909, pages 475-476. More Erie County History Books   Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!   Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com.