[1] Tyree was born on November 9, 1864, in Augusta County, Virginia[2] and came to New York City to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Her debut came as understudy to the ailing Effie Shannon in The Charity Ball by David Belasco and Henry Churchill de Mille in February 1890.

It was based loosely on the Pilgrim emigration to the United States, with settings in Holland, Plymouth, England, and the shore of Massachusetts Bay.

[8] In 1898 Tyree played Avonia Bunn in the first American production of Arthur Wing Pinero's stagedoor comedy Trelawny of the 'Wells'.

She was returning after a matinee of The Earl of Pawtuckett when she was thrown from her cab when the horse hitched to the hansom slipped and fell on Fifth Avenue (Manhattan) near Twenty-Sixth Street.

[15] In 1904, Tyree was married to James Stetson Metcalfe, a drama critic for Life Magazine and The Wall Street Journal.