In 1893 Mary Ellen Criddle met William F. Russell.
He had come to Basalt, Idaho to work for the summer.
She apparently never dreamed that she would one
day marry him for in her words, "he made no impression."

Mary Ellen's father, Charles Criddle, homesteaded and
worked on the canal. He became the postmaster and
Mary Ellen served as his assistant for eight years.
The Criddles hadn't always lived in Basalt. Mary
Ellen was born on October 1, 1878, while her family
was living in Meadow, Millard County, Utah. Two
and a half years later the Criddles settled in Morgan,
Utah, staying there until the move to Basalt in 1888.
It was in Morgan that Mary Ellen received all of her
formal education - about a year and a half of school.

In 1897 Will Russell returned to Basalt. His uncle,
William M. Dye, had been called on a mission to the
southern states. Will lived with his Aunt Julia while
her husband was away. Will sang in the Basalt Ward
Choir and so did Mary Ellen Criddle. During this time
Mary Ellen was told that Will had had his fortune told
and the fortune teller had said he would have twelve
sons. She renarked to someone, "Gee, I'd like to be
their mother."

Will left Basalt in 1898 and returned home to Riverdale,
Utah. He had dated Mary Ellen about a half dozen times.
Before leaving Idaho Will had received a letter stating
that his parents had been called by the church to go to
Canada as new settlers. Will had no intention of going.

Will's mother, Hannah Maria Child Russell, had said she
would not go without all her family. Eventually Will was
convinced that he should go along. He told his father
that first he would have to return to Basalt and settle up
affairs there.

Will took the train to Basalt around the first of July. The
next day he talked with Mary Ellen Criddle. Although
they had only dated a few times he proposed to her.
He told her, "The President of the Church has called my
parents to move to Canada and settle in Alberta. My
mother won't go without all of her family and I won't
go unless you'll marry me and go with me." She accepted
and they were married less than two weeks later, on July
12, 1899 in the Logan Temple.

A wedding reception was held that night in Riverdale in
their honor. The bride ard groom never made it to that
celebration, as the rail road tracks were washed out at
Oxford. They spent their first night together on a railroad
car. There was no food on the railroad car but they
managed to get something to eat from a nearby cheese
factory.

When the young couple arrived back in Basalt a Relief
Society conference was in progress and they insisted
on giving them a wedding dance in the school house.
The school was packed for the dance and one man
remarked,"Best time I ever had in my whole life."

The newlyweds traveled by train to Stirling, Alberta,
Canada, arriving there July 17, 1899. There they
lived in a 12' x 14' tent until January 15, 1900. There
was heavy grass everywhere with neither trees nor
sagebrush to be seen. Of the three houses in the
community only two were completely finished.

In January Will built a 12' x 16' one room home. They
moved into the little house about the fifteenth of that
month. On March 17, 1900 the Relief Society had its
annual birthday celebration complete with a program,
supper, and dance. Will's mother was the Relief Society
President at the time. Fortunately she was also a
trained mid-wife for at about 2:00 A.M. Ellen woke Will
and said, "Get your mother." Before 3:00 A.M. their first
baby arrived two months premature. He weighed about
2 and one-half pounds. It was doubtful whether he would
survive.

The Elders were called and they administered to him. In
the blessing, Bishop Brandley promised him he would
live and grow to full stature of manhood. William B.
Hardy blessed him and gave him a name: Francis Criddle
Russell, and through the efforts of Will's mother and her
close attention, the mother and baby got along very well.

Will reported that "after his wife was able to be out "
she took the baby every morning at 5:00 o'clock into the
fresh air for an hour. At five months he weighed seven
pounds, and then he came down with the whooping cough.
Up to that time, he had been very inactive and hardly
moved. But when the coughing spells came, the
activity came, both in his arms and legs. Again it was
doubtful whether he would survive. However, he did
recover, and after that he grew very fast. At fourteen
months he was walking and was as active as any normal
child. It was hard to believe he had been so small that he
was carried on a pillow and fed with a medicine dropper.
He had been so small that he wasn't big enough to dress
until age six weeks."

For the winter of 1902 the Russells rented a house in the
village and moved from the farm. On March 2nd their
second baby, Julia Ellen, was born. She weighed seven
pounds. She was a normal baby and she grew fast.

The next year Will and Mary Ellen moved from Stirling to
Taber. They homesteaded in the Taber district and spent
the summer of 1903 in a tent. That July Will opened a
lumber yard for Rogers Lumber Co. of Lethbridge. In the
fall he built a two room house, 14' x 28'.

Mary EIlen returned to Stirling to have her third baby.
While under the care of her mother-in-law Mary
Ellen gave birth to another daughter, Fauntella, on
November 27, 1903. The family moved into the new
house with the week-old baby in December. While the
family was stiIl in Taber another son, Warren was born.
His birthdate was September 17, 1905.

In August of 1907, the family moved to Provo,, Utah.
Will went into the livery stable business with William
Probert, a man with whom he had worked in the
management of the Taber community. Mary Ellen cared
for her growing family while Will worked and attended
the Brigham Young Academy

While they were living in Provo three sons were born
to Will and Mary Ellen. Austin was born December 10,
1907. On September 21, 1909 Bill was born. And
Ken was born on January 11, 1912. When their son,
Bill,was about six weeks old, the family was going to
take the excursion boat across the lake to Saratoga
Hot Springs. There was a sand bar in the river, so
that people had to go in row boats out to the big boat.
Mary Ellen held Bill and sat in the end of one of the
row boats. As it was shoved off, she fell backwards
into the deep water at the edge of the pier. She
went to the bottom and came right straight up. They
grabbed her and hauled her into the boat. She had
been holding the baby so tightly that her clothes
weren't even wet where she had clutched him to her.

It's no wonder that Mary Ellen was frightened. Four
years earlier her mother and little sister had drowned.
Mary Ellen's mother, Emma Jane Crofts Criddle, was
an excellent swimmer. Emma was carrying her
youngest child, Lottie, across a ladder-type bridge
when she slipped. Her foot caught on the bridge
and she drowned with her head in the water, unable
to use her swimming abilities to save herself. The
little girl's body was found in the shrubs at the side
of the canal. Emma's husband, Charles Criddle,
was in England on a mission. He was released by
President Joseph F. Smith and returned home.

Mary Ellen was eight months pregnant with her son
Warren and was unable to travel to Basalt to attend
her mother's funeral.  Mary Ellen's fall out of the
row boat must have dramatically reminded her of
her mother's death. Mary Ellen never again got into
a row boat.

In the summer of 1912, Will, Mary Ellen, and their
seven children moved to Riverdale, Utah. Will
held different jobs in the city and on the farm. On
December 10, 1913, Mac was born.

Two years later the family moved to Ogden. They
lived in the ninth ward where their bishop was Owen
Ridges, the son of the builder of the Tabernacle
organ. Will left his family to work in the harvest in
Canada. He stayed for thrashing until the middle of
December. He returned back home to Ogden for
Christmas. Soon after his return Mary Ellen gave birth
to their ninth child, a daughter. Beth was born on
February 3, 1916.

Mary Ellen and Will returned to Canada in 1917. They
bought some land and started farming north of Taber.
They raised only a light crop in 1918. Will also
operated a livery stable.

The fourth daughter was born to the Russells on August
21, 1918. Ruth brought the total number of children
to ten. The last of the eleven children, Glenn, was
born on June 6, 1921. That year the family moved
onto a ninety acre, irrigated farm at Barnwell. For the
next few years the family would live in Barnwell for the
summer, then back to Taber for the winter. They lived
in a yellow house, and it was here that they had their
first electric lights.

In the fall of 1925 the Russells sold their farm in Barnwell
to Frank Stevens and moved the family to Lethbridge.
The boys stayed on a farm at Diamond City, a town just
outside of Lethbrjdge.

Mary Ellen was always very active in church work
whereever they lived. At the age of fifteen she went
visiting teaching with her aunt in Idaho. For fifty
years she continued to serve as a Relief Society
visiting teacher. After the family had settled in
Lethbridge, Mary Ellen served on the Lethbridge
Stake Primary Board as well. She worked as a
temple worker in the Alberta Temple from 1933 - 1952.
Her husband, Will, did the same from January, 1947
to September of 1952.

The eleven Russell children loved their mother very much.
Whenever they were away from the family they received
a letter from their mother each week.

On July 11, 1949, Mary Ellen and Will had a large
celebration for their fiftieth wedding anniversary.
A family dinner was held at the Marquis Hotel in
Lethbridge. Fifty-three people were in attendance.
The group included all ten of their living children
(Warren died in 1938).

Mary Ellen died on April 21, 1957 in Lethbridge. She
was seventy-eight.

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