Libby was born July 29, 1888, the daughter Frank A and Emma J Morrill Whitman. Frank was killed in Aug. 1890 and Emma died of TB in Oct. 1890. Libby was raised by her great-grandparents Laban and Elvira Putnam until their deaths. Libby remembered her grandfather Laban telling her about her the War of 1812. After the death of Elvira Putnam in 1898 Libby went to live with friends of her parents Herbert and Nina Merrill in Chicago, Il. He had also been the principal of the school she attended in Palatine. For a while Libby also lived with her mother's brother, Edgar Morril in Troy, Mn. But her life was not easy she had polio and did not adapt to the life in Mn as well.

Her life with the Merrill's was happy, Nina was an artist and gave Libby a handpainted lamp that she treasured all her life. She attended Austin High School in Chicago. The Merrill's had two children, Helen who died at age 1 and Frank who was like the brother that Libby had but who lived with another Morrill relative. It was Frank Merrill who introduced Libby to her future husband Robert Herman Fluegge who was a fellow student at Lewis Institute of Chicago.