Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 30

Question:  Tell about seeing something you thought was very beautiful.

Answer:  The Temples, the water falls in Canada, a new born baby, daughters and sons getting married in the temple.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 29

Question:  Did you ever have or make a swing?

Answer:  I had a swing in Aberdeen, Idaho.  It was an old tire tied on a rope in the orchard.  I loved to swing in it.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 28

Question:  As a youth, did you ever learn any sewing, stitching or needlework?

Answer:  Mom taught me to darn socks and I hated it with a passion.  She also taught me how to do embroidery work which I liked to do.  If the darning didn't meet her approval, it came out and I had to do it over.  I have never darned anything since I've been married and don't plan on doing any either.

Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story Part Four

Martha Morgan: A Journey to Zion

by Alan Morgan Kendall
(pictures and documents added)

A New Religion 

Shortly after it's founding in the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent missionaries worldwide, with particular interest in the United Kingdom. Apostle Orson Pratt was sent to preside over the mission there, and early in 1840 climbed to the mountain peak of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh to dedicate Scotland to the preaching of the restored gospel. It was a prophetic act, and converts to “Mormonism”, as the new religion became known, multiplied rapidly.

Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh

For the Morgan and Nelson families, hearing the proclamation of a new order of things based truly upon ancient biblical principles must have been a welcome source of hope. Over a period of four years many family members entered into the waters of baptism, and became members of the new Dunfermline Branch of the church. The first was Martha's brother John in July 1846 followed by William's older brother David in September. William was next on the first day of 1847. The siblings followed, Thomas Morgan and Edward Banks Nelson on 1 June. About a week later Martha was baptized on the same day as her older sister Jane McGill Nelson Morgan, whom, it is believed, was married to a brother of William. Through 1850, Ninian Nelson, Janet Morgan, Jane Morgan, Agnes Ann Morgan, and William's mother Agnes Beveridge Morgan also joined the church. Apostle Orson Pratt must have personally ministered to the Saints in Dunfermline, it was he who confirmed Agnes Morgan a member of the church.11

Church records in Dunfermline Page one

Church records in Dunfermline Page two

In 1849 the families moved to the village and branch of Oakley, a collier town to the west of Dunfermline, where John Nelson served as the branch president.12

Blair Tower, northeast of Oakley

Persecution followed, but William and Martha were anxiously engaged in the work of the gospel in the Oakley Branch. William received the priesthood and exercised it to the blessing of others. Of course, their desire was to join the central body of the saints in America. Not all of the family emigrated, however. David Morgan and his wife Grace emigrated to America in 1852. Edward and Agnes Morgan Banks left about 1862 and settled in New Mexico. Janet Morgan eventually settled in Northern California where she died in 1908. John Nelson settled in the Logan, Utah area and brother Ninian just to the north in Dayton, Idaho.13

For the William Morgan family, the desire began to be realized when William registered with the church emigration service in July 1849.14 Martha's journey to Zion was about to begin. For the long voyage she would care for four children under the age of 8 years. Fortunately, she would have the help of a dear older sister, Jane McGill Nelson Morgan15, now a widow. Martha and Jane must have had a close relationship, judging from the many parallels in their lives.

11. Record of Members in Dunfermline Branch. Family History Library [FHL] Microfilm

104150, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

12. Record of Members in Oakley Branch. Family History Library [FHL] Microfilm 104154,

Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

13. Kendall, Alan M. The History of the Morgan Family (Unpublished), and

www.new.familysearch.org, 2011.

14. The History of the Morgan Family.

15. Ancestry.com. New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945 [Database on-line]. Provo, Utah,

USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2006. Jane Morgan traveled with Martha and family.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 27

Question:  Tell about a bike you had.

Answer:  My cousin was going to teach me to ride her bike.  They lived in Benjamin, Utah.  I got on the bike in front of their long cellar and she gave me a shove.  I went down the cellar, dodge the poles and hit the back of the cellar.  It knocked me out and sure ruined her bike.  That was the first and last bike ride I ever had.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 26

Question:  Describe a few of the favorite hair styles of your youth.

Answer:  We had bangs and our hair was cut straight.  I got my first perm when I went to visit my sister Annie in Spanish Fork, Utah.

Ruth is standing up in the swing and her sister Inez is seated on the right.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 25

Question:  Did you go barefoot in the summer?  If so, relate an experience about stepping on something.

Answer: I run across a lawn barefoot and stepped on a bee.  Mom got the stinger out with wet mud.  Then my foot started to swell.  Dad and Mom took me to the doctor where I had to have a shot.  I have to be very careful of a bee or wasp sting.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 24

Question:  Did you ever make mud pies?

Answer:  Many times and decorated them with blossoms of the sunflowers and clover.  Also made a neighbor's kid eat one or else I wouldn't let her ride in the red wagon Inez and I had.  She didn't come over to play very often, when she did I made mud pies.  She always ate one.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 23

Question:  Did you ever go skinny-dipping?

Answer:  No

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 21-22

Question:  Did your father ever make a special gift for you?

Answer:  Not that I can recall.

Question:  Did you have a special nature place where you went to explore?

No Answer on this page.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 20

Question:  Tell about some good advice your father gave you.

Answer:  Listen to your Mother, she is very wise and close to our Heavenly Father.  Tell your Mother that you love her and that she is a very special lady in your life.  Do it often as one never knows what will happen to her or you.  [Good advice for all of us]

Annie Ludlow Proctor

Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story Part Three

Martha Morgan: A Journey to Zion

by Alan Morgan Kendall

Her Marriage 

Daniel Morgan and his wife Agnes Beveridge were also descended from many generations of

coal miners. They and their children, too, were drawn to this coal and iron center, pulsing with

an intensity fueled by the industrial revolution in full swing. And so it was that the children of

colliers perpetuated their race. Their son William Morgan was nearly 24 years old when he

asked young Martha “Nelson” , a tender 16 year old, to be his wife. On 13 Mar 1841 at the Old

Monkland parish of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian), William and Martha presented their

names for the reading of banns announcing their intention to marry.7 The reading of banns was

a practice by which the announcement of their impending marriage was made at three successive

services, and was usually done in lieu of a marriage license. By the time the 1841 Scotland

census was taken on 6 June 1841, William and Martha had been married.8

Marriage of  William and Martha [Added]

William Morgan [Added]

Life in New Dundyvan

 The new Morgan family had parents and siblings in the area, all coal miners or iron workers. They seemed to be a close knit group. “Close” may be a word to describe their living conditions in a less than desirable way, for most of  the miners lived in row houses, owned, of course, by the coal mines. The row houses were crowded and notoriously unsanitary.

Typical row of Collier Houses

 These years were a season of unrest in the corridor between the major Scottish cities of Glasgow

and Edinburgh. The laboring populace seemed to be seeking for something better, and it was manifested, as it commonly is, in bitter feelings between the working class and the managing owners. One noteworthy rebellion occurred in December 1842 at the Dundyvan works. The coalminers united and went on strike for improvements. In response, the owners simply put the strikers out of their row houses into the streets at the mercy of the local charities. The strike was soon settled.9 Fortunately, the Morgans and kin had moved on by this time, but they must have received the news with keen interest.

Life in Dunfermline

[map added]

Dunfermline is an ancient city perched high over the Firth of Forth, the inlet of the North Sea entering Scotland. It was a center of royalty anciently, went into decline and decay, and was revived to respectability by the industrial revolution. It was, among other things, an iron foundry town, and that meant the need for coal. It was coal that was the life of the predecessors of William Morgan, as we have learned, not necessarily by their choice.

Dunfermline, Scotland [Added]

William and Martha, as well as members of the Nelson family relocated to Dunfermline shortly after their marriage. That is where their first child was born in the village of Hallbeath on 27 May 1842. The little girl was named Catherine Banks Morgan, after Martha's mother.

Catherine Banks Morgan [added]

Their family continued to grow as they lived and worked in the Dunfermline area, moving from village

to village as opportunities arose. Son Daniel (named for William's father) was born in Hallbeath,16 July 1844.

Daniel Morgan [added]

 He was followed by Agnes Beveridge (for William's mother) on 20 Aug 1846.10 The honorary naming of the children, plus the migration habits of the Morgans and Nelsonsshow strong family ties, which were to continue throughout their lives.

Agnes Beveridge Morgan

As was mentioned this was a decade of change and some strife in Scotland. Thinking men and women could not help but consider the inequalities existing among the classes in their society. The sense of  in justice must have been particularly keen to the Morgans, whose family had been under the stigma of their occupation for generations, and who probably suffered it firsthand. They may have wondered how, in a Christian nation, the prevailing church had been unable, or unwilling, to produce a society in which brotherly love produced a greater degree of justice. If they had considered, and even prayed for an answer to such a question, it was about to come forth. 

Sources:

7. Scotland, Lanark, Old Monkland—Church Records, Marriage Proclamations, 1819-1850.

Family History Library [FHL] Microfilm 1066602, Family History Library, Salt Lake City,

Utah.

8. 1841 Scotland Census [Databaase on-line]

9. Old Monkland Strikes, Court Cases & Misc. www.scottishmining.co.uk, 2011.

10. FamilySearch. LDS Church Membership Records. www.new.familysearch.org, 2011.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 19

Question:  Tell a favorite memory of your father.

Answer:  Dad was always there when I needed him for advice of just to talk to.  He was my knight in shining armor.  One of the dad's in the world.  I was very lucky as I also had a Daddy Frank, who was very special to me.

George Kidd Proctor Jr. 

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 18

Question:  Where did you go swimming?

Answer:  I swam in the pool in Toole, one in Salt Lake City; it was a hot springs.  When I came to Roberts, Idaho, I used to swim in Riverside Gardens and Lava Hot Springs.

Riverside Gardens about 1935 Joyce Miles Collection

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 17

Question:  How did you learn to swim?

Answer:  I was thrown into a hot springs and I dog paddled to shore.  Then Mom let me take lessons in a pool they had in Tooele, Utah.  It was outdoor and cold water.  I learned how to swim and dive and I loved it.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 16

Question:  Relate your happiest memory as a youth.

Question:  When I went to the Salt Lake Temple and was sealed to my own Mother and Father in October of 1937.  The Mother that raised me took the place of my own sweet Mother who had been called to her Heavenly Home right after I was born.  I was born 16 November 1918 and she was called Home 1 December 1918.  I was sealed to them before I turned 18 years old.  That was a happy memory.

Salt Lake City, Utah Temple

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 15

Question:  Share a childhood memory about a death that affected you.

Answer:  Mother didn't put anything on this page perhaps because she was only a few days old when she lost her Mother.  The death of her Mother definitely affected her throughout her life as she was raised by Grandpa brother and his wife, George Kidd and Annie (Ludlow) Proctor.  They were terrific parents to her and loved her as their own.  They were my grandparents in every sense of the word.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 14

Question:  Tell another memory about a parade.

Answer:  I rode on a float as a pioneer woman and was pushing a handcart.  They said not to move we were on a bed of a truck.  My kids were unhappy with me because I couldn't wave to them when we passed by.

Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story Part Two

Martha Morgan: A Journey to Zion

by Alan Morgan Kendall

Her Childhood

Little can be said of her childhood, except for the possibility of employment in the coal mines.

Did Martha attend school? Education was highly regarded among the Scottish people, and each parish was required to have a school. But not all children attended the schools. Martha may have missed the opportunity due to her status in a collier family. A gauge of her education would be in her ability to read and write. According to the 1850 U. S. census she could do neither.  By 1860 it was reported that she could, while the 1870 census says she could read but not write. Both 1880 and 1900 census records give her a passing grade in literacy. It appears that she may have learned later in life. If so, that would be a high accomplishment for a busy frontier wife and mother. However, in her later years she lived among a people who also placed education as a high priority.

Before her 17th birthday, her family had moved from Inveresk far west to the outskirts of the Glasgow area. They lived in an area known as New Dundyvan in North Lanarkshire6, a polluted and gritty industrial center outside of the city. It was a center of coal mining and iron manufacture, and so drew the likes of the Neilson family to pursue their livelihood. It also attracted, as divine destiny would have it, the family of Martha's future husband.

1850 Jackson Illinois Census for William and Martha

1860 Beaver, Utah Territory Census for William and Martha

1870 Levan, Utah Territory Census

1880 Levan, Utah Territory for Martha and children

1900 Levan, Utah Territory Census for Martha and some of the children

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 13

Question:  If you were ever in a parade, tell about it.

Answer:  I rode on a float in the parade they used to have in Rigby, Idaho on the 24th of July Pioneer Day with the girls' softball team.  I coached for Menan First Ward.  We wore gunny sack dressed with Hancock and Clifford stamped on them.  The green grass came from Eckersell's funeral home and we made a baseball diamond on it.  We took 2nd place in the novelty which was $25.00.  We had a party at our church.

Mom Share Your Life with Me - June 12

Question:  Were you ever chased by some animal?

Answer:  I teased a billy goat and he chased me.  I jumped over a 5 foot high fence and so did he.  I flew up some steps and got into my Aunt Clara Hawksin's home.  I never teased him again.  I learned a lesson, they could run fast.