White Ivory (?) wedding dress with gathered sleeves and intricate bead work around the yoke and waist of the dress. All hand sewn. Has flare skirt with longer train in the back of the dress. Flare skirt is brocade with very small squares of shiny threads. Has roses on each side of the tick neck, leg of muffin sleeves" and bustle.
Use
Anna Stairs (1870-1958) married Elmer McKinley (1863-1939) in an elaborate and expensive wedding in Ravenswood on June 5, 1895. She was the granddaughter of the influential Judge Robert Shelley Brown, and Elmer was a clerk at the McKinley Security Company Bank. They had two daughters and lived together until February 1915. Then they separated due to Elmer’s alcoholism and poor financial management. His bank also closed that spring “on account of certain irregularities,” and he was committed to the Spencer Asylum, where he later died. A divorce was granted on April 7, 1923, and Anna retained all her assets, having signed a prenuptial agreement prior to the wedding.
