Ella Higginson
Northwest poet and writer Ella Higginson (1861-1940) was born Ella Rhoads in Council Grove, Kansas. She moved to Oregon with her parents as an infant, spending her youth in Portland and Oregon City. She attended public school in Oregon, and also received private lessons from Oxford trained S.D. Pope, then one of the most renowned educators on the West coast.
In 1885, Ella married Russell C. Higginson (1852-1909) in Portland Oregon. The couple moved to Bellingham, Washington (then the town of Sehome) in 1888, where they opened a drug store on Elk Street. It was during this period that Higginson's writing career began to flourish, with her poetry and short stories published nationally by journals including McClures, Harper's Monthly, and Colliers. Her best known work, a poem entitled "Four Leaf Clover," was first published by West Shore Magazine in 1890. Higginson's novels and collections of short stories include Mariella-Of-Out-West, Alaska the Great Country, The Flower that Grew in the Sand, From the Land of Snow Pearls, and The Forest Orchid and Other Stories. In June 1931, she was made poet laureate of Washington State.
Higginson was actively involved in community and civic affairs. She helped establish Bellingham's first public reading room and library (of which she became a long-time board member), and also retained an active interest in Whatcom County Normal School (later Western Washington University). Higginson was deeply concerned with issues affecting women, including female education and the institution of marriage. In a 1889 article in West Shore, she argued that the "real evil was not that divorce was too easy, but that marriage was too easy, and that there should be a law preventing marriage before the age of thirty, especially if the woman was homeless." She was an honorary member of societies including the Progressive Literary and Fraternal Club, the Bellingham Soroptimists and the Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs. Higginson was also the campaign manager for Mrs Frances C. Axtell, elected as the first female member of Washington State's House of Representatives in 1912. Higginson died in Bellingham, Wash. on December 27, 1940. For more detailed information about Ella Higginson, see a Chronology of her life.
Ella Higginson: A Chronology
Galen Biery Collection Center for Pacific NW Studies Western Washington University
1861 - Ella Higginson born in Council Grove, Kansas to Charles and Mary Rhoads.
1863 - The Rhoads family moves to Oregon from Kansas. Ella spends her childhood here.
1875 - 14 year old Ella's first poem is published in an Oregon City newspaper.
1885 - At age 23, Ella marries pharmacist Russell Carden Higginson.
1888 - Ella and Russell move to Bellingham.
1889 - Higginson's first article is published in the Portland West Shore and gains national attention due to its topic, divorce.
1890 - Higginson's most famous poem "Four-Leaf Clover" is first published in West Shore Magazine of Portland, Oregon.
1894 - Higginson wins McClure's story contest for "The Takin'In of Ol' Mis' Lane".
1894-1898 - Various collections of short stories and poems by Higginson are published.
1900 - Higginson begins her column "Clover Leaves" in the Seattle Daily Times.
1902 - Higginson's novel Mariella-of-Out-West is published.
May 15, 1909 - Russell Higginson dies at the age of 57.
1912 - Higginson becomes the campaign manager for Washington State's first woman memeber of the State Legislature.
1914 - "The Message of Ann Laura Sweet" by Higginson becomes Collier's Prize Story.
1923 - Ella Higginson is named as a member of "Who's Who in America".
1931 - Higginson is awarded the title Poet Laureate of Washington.
December 27, 1940 - Ella Higginson dies at her home in Bellingham.