Luella Mary Dean papers, circa 1899

Luella Mary Dean Lennings was born December 28th, 1875 in St. Louis, Missouri, the fifth of six children. Her parents were Dr. Thaddeus Joseph Dean and Almira Anderson Dean. Doctor Dean served as a surgeon in the Union Army and Navy during the Civil War. After the war, he went back to medical school in St. Louis and studied homeopathic medicine.

According to family stories, the Deans decided the climate of St. Louis was unhealthy and responsible for the death of Luella's twin, Lucian, who died in infancy. The Dean family made its way to Joseph, Oregon, following the Oregon Trail, taking several years to make the trip. When their oldest son, Edwin Lyon Dean, moved to Seattle before the turn of the century, the rest of the family soon followed.

Luella lived with her parents in a large three story house on Bell St. in Seattle. She graduated from the University of Washington in 1899 with a major in mathematics and astronomy. On March 6th, 1907, Luella married Andrew Lennings. They lived at 3704 20th Ave SW until her death on September 12th, 1946.