ELLA LEVINA RUSSELL

1861-1953

 

By Dianne Hurley, Gertrude McLain Russell Rowlee 1980, Rainous Todd, Mike Bostwick, Louis Lybecker 1980, 1989, Compiled, edited and completed by JoAnne Leppo

 

Ella Levina Russell was the first-born child of Augustus Palmer Russell and Sarah Etta Rarrick, born 12 Jun 1861, Sutter City (South Butte), California. Her Aunt Harriet Ellen Rarrick (a younger sister of her mother) married her father so became her stepmother after the untimely, tuberculosis-related death of her loving mother.

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In 1882, Ella married Charles (Carl) Oscar Lybecker. Charles Oscar was born Carl Oscar Bergenheim. His name was changed to Lybecker to obtain a passport to the USA. His father, Anders Bergenheim, was an officer in the Royal army of Sweden. He was very anxious to come to America, but could not get the necessary pass permitting him to leave the country. Another army officer, named Lybecker, concluded that he didn’t care to come to America so agreed to give his pass to Anders; but in order to use the pass, Mr. Bergenheim was obliged to assume the name of Lybecker. So, Anders came to America as Andrew Lybecker., and in 1854 arrived in California. Carl was naturalized 17 Aug 1879.

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Rainous Todd: “Oscar Lybecker married Ella and I believe they were married at the time the two families (Ella and Amelia’s) moved to Oregon and Washington. (Ella's first two children were born in Sutter before she & Oscar moved to Plaza, Washington).  Alex Lybecker was the other brother. Alex was married to a girl by the name of Moon.  She was of one of the old pioneer families of the Sutter area.  The Lybeckers were of Swedish descent and were truly a wonderful family.  All the family I have come in contact with have been fine people.”

 

Ella and Carl lived in and around South Butte, (Sutter City), & Yuba City California from her birth until after the birth of her 2nd child. This area is located about forty miles north of Sacramento California, near the junction of the Feather & Yuba Rivers.

Three years after Carl & Ella were married, they moved their family to the vicinity of Harrington, Washington. (southwest of Spokane, Washington, about forty-five miles) sometime between 1883 and 1887.  Carl went ahead of her. Ella came by sailing vessel to Portland, Oregon, a buggy trip to what’s now East Portland, and to the train station on the east plateau. The train took them to a point in eastern Washington, possibly the Pasco area. The balance of the trip was by wagon to Harrington. There, two more children were added to the family.                                                     

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The family participated in wheat farming, and probably sheep ranching. At first times were hard, and money was short for supplies. In the spring they saved the potato peels so the y could be planted. They were very dependent on what they could grow and store.                                                                                                                                                      

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Gertrude McLain Russell Rowlee, sister-in-law 1980: “…they moved to East Washington where he was a successful wheat farmer…they were also a deeply religious family. Ella could keep a person in stitches for hours when telling of family incidents as the children were growing up. They were musical and had the Lybecker Band. They played at school and at neighborhood functions: also in outlying communities.”

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Mike Bostwick: “There was a time, when Grandpa Lybecker decided the family needed a flock of sheep to improve their income potential. To obtain the flock he had to ride a horse to Northern California and then drive the flock home, walking all the way. To say the least, he was gone many months during which grandma tended the farm and the children. The following incidences may have occurred during this trip:

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In the early years of their life, in Eastern Washington, Grandpa Lybecker was known as the largest man in the North West (unknown to most, he was also one of the most gentle--he would not spank his children for fear he might hurt them) On one occasion when Grandpa was out of the area, a stranger stopped at the farmhouse, knocked and was quite insistent about coming in. Grandma Lybecker asked him if he knew that this was the home of Oscar Lybecker, he immediately turned tail and left.

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On another occasion when left alone, Grandma chased off an unlikely person with the rifle over the fireplace. She later confessed she wasn’t sure which end of the rifle the trigger was on.”           

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The Lybecker family next moved to Plaza, Washington (35 miles south of Spokane) and again took up wheat farming and branched out into fruit orchards. This occurred sometime between 1889 & 1891. While in Plaza, the remaining five children were added to the family for a total of nine.

In 1899, Ella’s younger sister, Amelia died so her daughter, 11 year old Ella May came to live with their family.

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The final move of the family took them to Pullman Wash (approx. seventy-five miles south of Spokane) to what then was a dairy farm on the edge of the campus of Washington State College. This move to Pullman took place about 1920.

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Sometime after the family moved to Pullman, a car was acquired which proved a frustration to Grandpa Lybecker. He never fully made the transformation from the horse and was constantly hollering “Whoa” to no avail. He also had a great tendency to turn too sharp or too soon. On one such occasion, he missed a side street and drove up the steps of the local bank. About this time, Chester was assigned the distasteful task of telling his dad he could no longer drive.                               

 

Ella was determined that her children would have a college education; eight of the nine graduated from W.S.C. The Lybeckers became a family of school teachers. Edith (Amelia Lybecker Mosier) was Supt of County Schools for many years in Idaho. All of her children were teachers at one time, except two. Four made a life-time career in the field of education, one was a contractor, one a banker, and three great homemakers. All, except one, had children of their own.

Both Carl and Ella believed in education. They donated some of their land in 1910 to the school directors of the school district in Spokane, Washington to build a school on. The deed record said it was sold for one dollar to make it a legal sale. It was here in this place that her husband Oscar Lybecker died on April 15, 1928, less than a year after their last child, Mabel, graduated from college.                                                                                                                                                                     

                              

The dairy farm provided for the early support of the family and subsequently for Ella’s support for the next 25 years. The farm was sold off a piece at a time, providing necessary income.

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When Ella’s oldest son, Ed, married he and Trixie lived close by which was convenient for him to help her when she needed it. Trixie’s parents, John and Rachel Trull were close friends with Carl and Ella.

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With the help of her oldest son, Ed, the old farm house was converted into four apartments, One for her and three rentals to college students. This made it possible for her to remain independent for the better part of her life.

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During the years in Pullman, many grandchildren would be in school at the same time providing many visitors, particularly on Sunday evenings when no meals were served in the dorms. As an example, during the 1947-48 school years eight cousins were on campus, two lived in town and her son Ed & his wife Dixie lived a stone’s throw away. To some of us who were far from home it was a great comfort to have such a large extended built in family unit.

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After many years of renting out the apartments as school dormitories, it became harder to rent. New housings were being built which were newer and nicer that the students would rent. When they would come to see Ella’s rentals, they saw old pot-belly stoves and things run down. Ella’s son, Ed pitched in with his sons, and they remodeled the places so that they would become rentable again. While in her eighties, she was still painting and wallpapering the apartments in preparation for student renters.

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In 1941, Ella celebrated her eightieth birthday with a large family reunion, all her nine children, nineteen surviving grandchildren, one great grandchild, and many extended family members attended. It was truly a great occasion. At that point in time, Ella was still very much in charge of her life. For example, she still painted and wallpapered all the apartments.

When Carl and Ella first came to Washington, it was still a territory. Ella continued to live in Washington even after her husband died until 1951 when she moved to stay with her daughter in Portland. They were considered true Washington pioneers.

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In the next couple of years, Ella concluded that she could no longer get out and about and for the most part stayed in her apartment. However in 1950, she was persuaded to travel, by car, to Portland, Oregon and spent the summer on the coast, staying with both her daughter, Mabel, and her son, Dewey. She had a great time and in the fall she returned to Pullman with Dewey when his daughters returned to school. She repeated this trip again the next summer, unfortunately late that summer she suffered a stroke and remained at Mabel’s home until her passing in March 1953 at ninety-one years old.