Martha Matilda McGill Nelson - Life Story

Martha Morgan: A Journey to Zion

by Alan Morgan Kendall

In the little town of Levan, Utah stands a log cabin, a rustic and weathered monument to a few

who transformed a field of grass near a mountain stream into a home. Sheltered in those aging

walls are the artifacts of toil which sustained them. Pictured on the walls are those pioneers

whose shoulders bore the burden of that toil. It was they who broke the first soil, laid the first

adobe, gave birth to and nurtured the first child.

One such photograph reveals an elderly woman, sitting attentively in a high backed chair, her

smooth and kindly face framed tightly by a black bonnet. Her dress is Victorian black, long

sleeves covering even her wrists, with a large bow modestly gathered at her neck. In her lap she

holds a thin cloth bound volume, one matronly finger marking a place, as if the photographer

had interrupted a quiet moment with the poetry of Robert Burns. Her hands are thick, showing

the strength of many years of labor. She gazes placidly, as she has for decades, with just a hint

of a smile. Her name is Martha Morgan, and this is her story.

Unfortunately, Martha and her kin never left a written record. We will not know for now what

was happening behind that gentle smile, or why she and her family made decisions as they did.

But in their journey across an ocean, and into a strange new land they left their imprints, and

they collectively tell a story, truly, a journey to a Zion after which they faithfully sought.

Her birth in Scotland

She was actually christened Matilda Neilson in the old parish church of Inveresk, Midlothian County on 19 December 1824. She was exactly one month old.1  How she became a Martha is unknown. Martha Matilda is a common female name combination, probably popular from it's lilting sound, and maybe was used informally, and, as such names do, just stuck. McGill is another name sometimes fastened to her, that would have been handed to her by a paternal grandmother whose maiden name it was. Her maiden name also evolved over the years. It was frequently shortened to Nelson by brothers who came to America, and even some records in Scotland show the shortened version.

Martha, as we shall call her, was the daughter of Edward Neilson and his wife Catherine Banks, the sixth of eight children.2 The Neilsons were a family of coal miners and had been for as many generations as records exist.3 Which meant, for those in the 19th and prior centuries in Scotland, they were to inherit this grim legacy: They would work very hard in a harsh environment, raise a large family, and likely die young.

The Coal Miners

In her book Coal: A Human History, author Barbara Freese makes this wry comment: “In one respect, the seventeenth century English coal miner was lucky; At least he wasn't a coal miner

in Scotland.” 4 It was an occupation that was already hazardous and strenuous, but the Scots

took it one step further. They made it a sort of legal servitude as well, probably because of it's

difficulty. In the early 17th century legislation had been passed in Scotland that made the “colliers” virtually the property of the owners of the coal mines. Without the owner’s permission

they were legally forbidden to leave the mine for other employment. The owners were free to

impose cruel and humiliating punishments upon anyone violating their will. They could press

into their service any vagrant or person not otherwise engaged in labor. It was a common practice to secure the labor of children in a family by the payment of a small bounty to the parents,t hus securing yet another generation under their control. Socially, colliers and their families were ostracized, and their children were not allowed to attend school, even if they had the time apart from their labors in the mines. They were normally worked 6 very long days per week, with the Sabbath day off and one annual holiday, Christmas Day.

Conditions improved with more humane laws being passed by 1800, but children were still being

forced to labor under these hazardous conditions until 1841. Martha herself may have

worked in the mines as a child with her mother and siblings to help support her family. While

women and children were not required to work at the mine face, their primary duty was to haul

out the coal, pushing trams or carrying it on their backs. It was still difficult and dangerous

work, under which the Neilson families had chafed for many generations.

The Neilsons and their forebears had lived in various “collier villages” south and east of Edinburgh for many years, moving as required by the mine owners or in later years, in order to secure employment.5 Even in the enlightened 19th century the wealthy coal magnates were still

shrewd in manipulating those in their employ.

Picture of some coal miners.  They are not relatives.

Notes

1. Parish Records. Inveresk, Scotland. Family History Library [FHL] Microfilm 1067757, Family

History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

2. Carson, Robert. The Story of the Neilsons of Midlothian. www.carsontree.talktalk.net : 2011.

3. ibid.

4. Freese, Barbara. Coal: A Human History. Perseus Publishing, 2003.